Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

I do not accept the premise of the question that Senator Ludlam puts there. What is colloquially described as negative gearing is a very simple and very important principle in our tax system, and that is when you generate an income you are able to deduct the costs in generating that income from that gross income in order to determine your taxable income.

Senator Wong interjecting—

I can see that Senator Wong, who, instead of focusing on cutting expenditure and controlling expenditure, is always looking for an opportunity to increase taxes on middle-income Australians.