One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce has accused the government of planning a “cash grab” following accusations Anthony Albanese is going to break an election promise by overhauling property taxes.
The prime minister is expected to make changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax in next week’s federal budget.
The likely move comes despite Albanese’s categorical pre-election promise that negative gearing was “off the table”.
Speaking on Sunrise on Monday morning, Joyce accused the government of planning a “cash grab” and warned of potential changes to capital gains tax that could function as a “quasi-death duty” for families transferring property.
Joyce said the victims of changes to existing tax arrangements would be “people who are prudent, who after they have paid tax on their income, invest in capital assets so their children can have a better life”.
He claimed the government had “run out of money” and was targeting investors to fill budget holes.
Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek repeatedly declined to confirm whether negative gearing would remain off the table.
“I’m not going to talk about anything that may or may not be in the budget. It’s in a week’s time,” Plibersek said.
When pressed on whether changes to negative gearing would constitute a broken promise, the minister maintained her position, saying only that the budget would have “fairness at its centre”.
Plibersek said the government was committed to housing affordability, citing 300,000 people who were able to buy a home through various schemes, including a 5 per cent deposit program, with 100,000 homes set aside for first home buyers.
“I’ve got three kids,” she said. “I want them to be able to afford a home of their own one day.”
Plibersek dismissed talk of death duties as “just a lie” and a scare tactic, while maintaining that housing supply remained the key priority, with the government focused on building more homes and training more tradies through free TAFE programs.
Speaking to reporters in Canberra on Monday as he prepares to hand down his fifth budget, treasurer Jim Chalmers said there are “genuine inter-generational concerns and pressures”.
“This budget is not about and never will be about setting some Australians against other Australians, it’s about recognising some of these legitimate inter-generational concerns, which, in my experience, these concerns are often shared by older Australians.”
The budget is being finalised later than normal as volatility in the Middle East affects economies around the world.
While the treasurer said there would be a range of contingencies for further cost-of-living relief, a decision on whether to extend the fuel excise tax cut beyond the end of June would not be in the budget.
The excise cut wiped 26 cents off a litre of petrol at the bowser and was unveiled as a three-month measure.
“We’ve made it really clear that it’s a temporary thing,” Chalmers said. “If we get closer towards the end of that three-month period ... obviously we’ve got a range of contingencies.”
The federal budget will be delivered next Tuesday.
