‘Most significant in over a quarter century’: Chalmers reveals major tax reform package

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]Speaker, the productivity package is ambitious and so are our tax reforms.

[00:00:06]This budget includes the most significant tax reform package in more than a quarter of a century.

[00:00:13]This is about tax relief and tax reform to make our economy work for more Australians, for more businesses and future generations.

[00:00:21]We're delivering a fairer tax system for workers, first time buyers and young people.

[00:00:27]This will help rebalance the system which is more generous to assets than it is to labor.

[00:00:32]And help rebalance the system where house prices have decoupled from incomes.

[00:00:37]Since 1999, house prices have risen over 400% more than twice as fast as average incomes.

[00:00:46]Our tax changes will help about 75,000 Australians achieve the dream of home ownership.

[00:00:52]We'll limit negative gearing for residential property to new builds from July next year.

[00:00:58]And we're replacing the 50% capital gains tax discount with inflation adjusted indexation to restore the taxation of real gains.

[00:01:08]These changes will be prospective and new builds will retain the option to use the 50% discount.

[00:01:15]We'll also introduce a minimum 30% tax rate on capital gains from July next year and on discretionary trust from July the year after.

[00:01:24]This is about better aligning the taxes paid on these types of income with the taxes paid on wages.

[00:01:31]These changes will level the playing field for workers and first home buyers and support investment in productive assets including new housing supply.

[00:01:40]And they will fund our new round of tax relief for more than 13 million Australian workers.

[00:01:46]So speaker, we're building a better tax system for businesses, too.

[00:01:50]With over 3 and 1/2 billion dollars in new measures that lower taxes to encourage investment and innovation.

[00:01:57]We'll permanently introduce two-year loss carry back for all companies up to $1 billion in turnover, bolstering resilience and risk-taking.

[00:02:06]And we'll introduce loss refundability for startups to help new businesses invest and grow in their first 2 years.

[00:02:15]We'll also expand tax incentives for venture capital and better target the research and development tax incentive to support more high-impact innovation.

[00:02:24]The third part of our tax reform package is to make the tax system simpler and more sustainable. Simpler for workers with a $1,000 instant deduction and simpler for small businesses with a permanent instant asset write-off and more dynamic tax installments.

[00:02:40]And we'll put in place more sustainable long-term settings to support the take-up of electric vehicles.

[00:02:47]Speaker, our tax reforms will help workers, create a fairer housing market, and drive more productive investment across our economy. They build on the significant reforms we've already delivered, and they complement our other efforts to increase housing supply and boost productivity and reduce compliance costs.

[00:03:04]The new revenue raised will be returned to workers and businesses over the next 4 years so that more Australians can earn more and keep more of what they earn. Yeah.