Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

It is well known that over 50 per cent of the negative gearing tax concessions go to the top 20 per cent of income earners, and we are talking about predominantly surgeons. The greatest number of negative gearers in this country are anaesthetists, and these are the people and the tax concession system that the mob over here want to defend. Unless you are tackling negative gearing and restricting it in the manner that the Labor Party proposes to to ensure that negative gearing is only available for new investment properties, and you reduce the capital gains tax discount by 50 per cent, the situation where first home buyers are priced out of the market will continue. So my question to those opposite is: why will you not adopt Labor's sensible approach to negative gearing and capital gains tax, restrict these outrageous tax concessions and make housing more affordable for more Australians? (Time expired)

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