Andrew Leigh (Fraser, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

It is the value of a second reading amendment, remember! If you total anything going to teachers, it probably outweighs what goes to the few thousand surgeons in Australia. But these are benefits which go, disproportionately, to the top of the distribution—70 per cent of capital gains tax subsidies go to the top 10 per cent of income earners. Our plan improves the budget bottom line by around $32 billion over the decade. It gives investors certainty by guaranteeing that existing investors will not be affected and provides the scope for us to begin to restore some of the savage cuts to schools and hospitals that have occurred under this government.

By stating that investments made before 1 July 2017 will be treated under the existing rules, we ensure that there is no retrospectivity. That is what this bill does, in the case of capital gains tax arrangements for Norfolk Island residents, and it is, in general, a good tax principle.

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