Scott Ludlam (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. According to Moody's ratings agency and respected economists such as Saul Eslake, estimates are in the public domain that negative gearing adds nine per cent or around $44,000 to the price of a home. Could you explain, as finance minister, how it is economically or socially defensible to leave negative gearing and capital gains tax exemptions in place when it is so well understood that these huge taxpayer funded incentives for property speculation are artificially inflating home prices?