The RBA’s string of 12 interest rate rises in 13 months will mean an additional $11 billion lost revenue for the Commonwealth budget, PBO figures show.
Max Chandler-Mather, Greens spokesperson for housing and homelessness said:
“This week’s interest rate rise is set to cost the government an extra $550 million in tax handouts for property investors next year alone – on top of the $12.4 billion that negative gearing and capital gains will cost the budget next year.”
“This is another half a billion dollars the government should be spending on building public and genuinely affordable housing, not handing out massive concessions to property moguls.”
“Rather than spending tens of billions every year on hand outs for property investors that turbocharge house prices and go overwhelmingly to the top 10%, the government should be spending billions every year on building public and affordable housing and incentivising states to freeze rent increases.”
“When 1% of taxpayers own a quarter of all investment properties, it’s clear that our broken housing system only works for the wealthy. The government needs to explain how they can justify spending an extra half a billion a year on tax breaks for investors when they can’t find a single dollar of guaranteed funding for public housing or to freeze rents.”
Nick McKim, Greens spokesperson for Treasury and Economic Justice said:
“These figures show that renters just can’t win.”
“In addition to getting smashed by massive rent rises, their taxes are being used to subsidise their landlords’ profits.”
“Current policy settings are ripping apart our country’s social fabric. It’s time we reformed the tax system to transform housing from an investment class into a human right.”