Labor’s turn to Greens for tax deal was inevitable
The Greens have campaigned for years to dump property investor tax breaks, while Angus Taylor has been stomping around barking ‘toxic taxes’ at anyone he thinks might listen. This deal was inevitable.
The tax deal struck today has been inevitable since Budget night.
The Greens have campaigned for years to dump property investor tax breaks, while Angus Taylor has been stomping around barking “toxic taxes” at anyone he thinks might listen.
In the end, Labor figures can’t believe they got off so lightly.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.Greens economic spokesman Nick McKim laid out six demands in his part of the report released last Friday after a snap Senate inquiry into the tax changes.
Four of them, the Government had already announced a day earlier it would do.
The compromise was reached over the least politically damaging of the final two sticking points: closing what McKim feared would become a growing loophole allowing self-managed superannuation funds to borrow to buy residential property.
Currently, this is used by so few people that it accounts for less than 0.5 per cent of annual residential borrowing; financial regulators recommended three times to the previous government that it be shut.
The other option McKim championed – limiting the number of properties that would be grandfathered – would have created hundreds of thousands more losers in an environment that is already full of pessimism and backlash to the budget.
The other part of the deal is pushing back passage of the NDIS legislation until August at the earliest, instead of this fortnight.
This delay will cost “a few hundred million dollars” (no one was prepared to be more specific) but also gives the Government more time to work on the Coalition, which is inclined to support the massive savings on an economic basis but also sees a chance to keep whacking Labor over one of its own signature programs.
Overall, Tuesday’s events should serve as yet another reminder to the Coalition that the current Senate makeup means if it deals itself out of the game preemptively, the Government has no qualms about turning to the Greens.
After all, as Anthony Albanese said, it should surprise no one that Labor speaks to other people in the Senate to secure passage of its agenda.
Originally published on The Nightly
