A move by federal politicians has inflamed Australia’s housing crisis, cutting out millions from owning a home.
‘The world’s most generous tax breaks’ handed to property investors by federal politicians is helping cut millions from owning a home, industry warns.
A new report warns that the wealthiest Australians now hold 90 times the wealth of those with the least – fed by “the most generous tax breaks in the world” for housing investments including capital gains tax discounts and negative gearing.
The Widening the Gap report, launched Tuesday morning at Parliament House in Canberra, warns “high house prices have fuelled inequality and locked many people out of housing and financial security” – and comes as Australia’s federal politicians were estimated to own over $405m worth of real estate, far removed from the housing crisis.
Ms Chambers said Australian property investors had the “the most generous tax breaks in world” over the past two decades, making many people very rich but shutting out millions who now can’t afford to buy a basic property.
She warned that the federal experiment with housing as a wealth generator rather than a basic need had failed, and it was time to stop it from getting worse.
“We should be using our tax system to make Australia fairer. Instead, Government policies are driving inequality and making it worse. The good news is that we know what needs to be done to turn this around,” she said.
“We’re calling on them to wind back housing tax breaks that have pushed housing costs up to record highs. Capital Gains Tax discounts and negative gearing deductions are being used to build wealth for investors, instead of being used to boost social housing,” she said.
“We’re calling on them to tax income from investments fairly. People who earn income from work are paying more tax than people who earn income from their wealth. That needs to change if we want to make our tax system fairer,” said Anglicare executive director Kasy Chambers.
As the cost of living crisis facing average Australians worsens, greater pressure is being brought to bear on Australia’s 227 federal politicians who control all changes to tax and other structures through which thousands of people are currently profiting off housing, and significantly more struggling to get into the frenzied market.
Analysis of the Register of Members’ Interests of the 47th parliament show around 95 per cent of Australia’s federal politicians already own real estate interests, with only about 10 of the individual members or senators showing none to their name, and the top 15 owning a whopping 88 properties.
Federal Liberal MP Andrew Wallace (Fisher Qld) is the unofficial GOAT of political property investing. His declaration shows no real estate attributed to him, and two to his spouse/partner in Wurtulla, Qld and Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada – but two of his companies Wallco Property Group and QHF Properties have had extensive real estate interests.
Wallco alone has been involved in over a dozen property deals, with the company currently declared as having two properties in Monkland and Bli Bli Qld. The Bli Bli house is currently listed for sale aimed at “best offers”. He sold off a property in Bargara last year for $1.295m, which had five individual units within it rented out.
The biggest portfolio currently on the register though is held by Liberal Nola Marino (Forrest, WA) who has eight properties spanning a massive 380-plus hectares, according to records to February – much of which is used for farming.
Almost all of her real estate in Western Australia – owned with her spouse/partner – is used for production of dairy and beef, hay production and sales, breeding, racing and leasing thoroughbred horses. Property records show many have been held for decades, with just one purely residential property.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Marrickville home – listed for rent in real estate records in January at over $1,300 a week – was changed into an investment and named as rental income this year, given he is now living in the official PM’s residence.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton sold his investment property located in Brisbane CBD last year and held one residential property as his home earlier this year.
Three members have seven properties each, including Labor’s Brendan O’Connor (Gorton VIC), Labor’s Dr Michelle Ananda-Rajah (Higgins VIC) and Liberal National Karen Andrews (McPherson QLD).
Mr O’Connor has properties in Niddrie, Keilor, Fitzroy, Lorne, while his spouse/partner has real estate in Euroa, Longwood and Creightons Creek.
Dr Ananda-Rajah has four joint holdings with her spouse in Porepunkah, VIC, Beaumaris, TAS, Canterbury, VIC, and North Melbourne, VIC, with another Victorian property in North Carlton and two interstate investments in Brisbane, QLD.
Mrs Andrews has recently sold one of her seven properties – letting go an investment in Ayr – but brought her tally back up to seven buying another rental in Toowoomba, both in Queensland. She also co-owns investment properties in Deniliquin, NSW, Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, Mudgeeraba, Palm Beach, and two in Clear Island Waters.
