{"id":676416,"date":"2026-05-17T08:57:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T08:57:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/676416\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T08:57:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T08:57:08","slug":"tech-founders-use-ai-generated-images-to-poke-fun-at-anthony-albanese-in-protest-against-tax-changes-tax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/676416\/","title":{"rendered":"Tech founders use AI-generated images to poke fun at Anthony Albanese in protest against tax changes | Tax"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tech entrepreneurs have mocked the government\u2019s capital gains tax changes by posting AI-generated photos of Anthony Albanese<\/a> as their \u201cnew founder\u201d and warning that increased taxes could push people away from working for new businesses or send startups overseas.<\/p>\n

Startups and entrepreneurs may yet receive a carve-out in the federal government\u2019s planned changes to the CGT discount<\/a>, with the prime minister saying he wanted to support innovation and the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, revealing that consultation was continuing with the sector.<\/p>\n

The CGT changes<\/a> \u2013 replacing the 50% tax discount on profits with \u201ccost-base indexation\u201d, meaning tax on profits after inflation, and a minimum 30% tax rate \u2013 were strongly opposed by some tech founders. Early stage startup companies with little cashflow often offer employees equity in the company, or stock options, in lieu of higher pay, while founders can be motivated to take risks with new ventures by a large potential payday when they sell their companies. Both could be affected by the CGT changes, the Tech Council of Australia warned.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is work to do to ensure Australia\u2019s startup community doesn\u2019t become collateral damage as a result of proposed changes,\u201d said the council\u2019s chief executive, Kate Cornick.<\/p>\n

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Tim Wilson, the shadow treasurer, warned of \u201cfounder flight\u201d overseas. The cofounder of Boost Juice, Janine Allis, also warned that winding back CGT discounts would discourage innovative businesses.<\/p>\n

A minor trend emerged among startup founders after budget night, with several posting AI-generated photos of Albanese in their offices.<\/p>\n

Julian Fayad with the PM in his AI-generated post<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s having a great time with his new 47% equity,\u201d wrote Jacques Greeff, the founder of the communications app Kinso, who posted AI images of the prime minister in the office with his staff, coding their product and working with customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the tax changes, [the] incentive to grow a business is greatly reduced, but all the normal risks remain,\u201d Greeff told Guardian Australia, warning it would be harder to attract talented employees if their equity stake was less lucrative.<\/p>\n

\u201cAustralia should be encouraging young founders to build the next Canva. My fear is they don\u2019t even attempt it now or, worse, they go overseas and build the next unicorn and Australia misses out entirely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Julian Fayad, the chief executive of the loan comparison platform LoanOptions.ai, posted AI images of Albanese sleeping in his company\u2019s office and scrolling on his phone. He also warned of the impact on attracting workers and risk-taking.<\/p>\n

Fayad took part in a roundtable meeting in Sydney on Saturday hosted by Wilson, where founders were critical of the government\u2019s changes, and joined the shadow treasurer at a media conference afterward.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the 47% CGT, the government\u2019s message to founders like me is that if we succeed, they want nearly half of the hard-earned reward,\u201d Fayad said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I look at what countries like Singapore and the UAE are doing to attract and retain founders; the incentives, the structures, the genuine support, and then look at what Canberra is doing, it\u2019s hard not to feel abandoned and hindered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alfie Robertson \u2018welcomes\u2019 Albanese to his office in another AI-generated image<\/p>\n

Alfie Robertson, the founder of the video editing app Roll, posted AI images of Albanese in the gym, recording a podcast and working on strategy. He also feared startups could look overseas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe concern is not just about tax,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s about incentives. Policies like this shape where founders choose to build, invest and stay.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Australia wants to compete globally for talent and innovation, it should be rewarding people who take productive risks to build companies, create jobs and grow the economy, not reducing the incentive to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about the backlash on Friday, Albanese said he supported the startup sector, pointing to a range of budget incentives for research and development and instant asset write-offs. Chalmers conceded that startups may have \u201ca different kind of cost base\u201d to other industries.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had already been engaging with the tech sector, in particular, with the VC and startup sector to make sure that the changes accurately reflect the contribution that we seek from that really important part of the economy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Cornick said the Tech Council welcomed the new R&D tax incentives and reforms to venture capital regulation, and was keen to continue consulting on the CGT.<\/p>\n

The economist Saul Eslake said there may be a case for more generous treatment for CGT, specifically for new businesses starting from scratch, as they may be paying tax on all profits due to having no cost base to index. He backed the government\u2019s moves to alter CGT for property<\/a> and shares, and said it wasn\u2019t unfair to expect startup founders to pay tax on business earnings but conceded some new businesses like startups may need incentives to encourage innovation and risk-taking.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are still pretty powerful incentives,\u201d Eslake said. \u201cIf, instead of becoming a billionaire, you make $800m, is that less incentive?\u201d<\/p>\n

Another economist, Chris Richardson, warned that it would be a mistake to \u201cbend\u201d on the CGT.<\/p>\n

He said incentives including R&D tax offsets and the instant asset write-off were better than carve-outs for future profits to support early-stage businesses. Richardson also backed the broader move towards taxing income from assets and income from labour in a more equal way.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a Warren Buffett quote: \u2018You may run into someone with a terrific investment idea, who won\u2019t go forward with it because of the tax he would owe when it succeeds. Send him my way. Let me unburden him.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tech entrepreneurs have mocked the government\u2019s capital gains tax changes by posting AI-generated photos of Anthony Albanese as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":676417,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[256,254,255,64,63,105],"class_list":["post-676416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=676416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}