Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has conceded that the public service is exploring a range of policy ideas on housing, and did not rule out the possibility of the government revisiting changes to negative gearing.
Albanese was responding to media reports that the Treasury has been tasked to “do a range of proposals” regarding the tax framework to address concerns about housing affordability.
“I’m sure the public service are looking at policy ideas. That’s because we value them. But we have our housing policy. It’s out there for all to see. What our government is considering is fixing housing supply by getting our legislation through the Senate. That’s what we’re considering … I talk about what we’re doing, not what we’re not doing,” Albanese said when asked about the media report, The Guardian reported.
Negative gearing is a tax benefit that allows investors to deduct losses from their investment properties if their expenses exceed the rent they earn. It reduces the amount of tax they have to pay on other incomes.
A spokesperson for the treasurer pointed out that even though it was not unusual for the Treasury to examine policy issues, it does not mean changes were being proposed, ABC News reported.
“We have a broad and ambitious housing agenda and we could be building more homes if it wasn’t for the divisive politics of the Greens and Coalition,” the spokesperson said.
The Greens and the crossbench have been demanding the government to make changes to property investment tax breaks.
Coalition finance spokesperson Jane Hume said the opposition will reject any changes that would limit housing supply and increase the rent.
“When you remove those tax incentives… investors leave the system so that we have fewer rental properties. And those that stay in the system push their rents up so that they can compensate for the loss of that tax incentive,” she said Wednesday.
Two bills related to housing policy are pending in the Senate. One is a scheme providing tax benefits to private developers to build apartment buildings with affordable rental units, and the second one is aimed at giving subsidies for first-home buyers.
Labor’s attempts to reform the negative gearing policy in 2019 drew widespread criticism leading to its defeat in the federal election.
