‘New co-owner’ AI Albo meme: Backlash brews over Labor’s Federal Budget changes to wealth building rules

Labor is facing a widespread backlash over Federal Budget changes to Capital Gains Tax, with furious business owners launching a social media campaign against their “new co-owner” — as Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers dig in for a fight.

Start-up founders called the government’s decision to scrap the 50 per cent CGT discount a “tax on success” and warned it could drive talent and investment offshore.

The long-standing discount will be replaced it with an inflation-index model and paired with a 30 per cent minimum tax rate on net capital gains, for all investments including new shares and crypto.

In dozens of posts online, Mr Albanese is AI-generated into team meetings, on the tools and helping product content shoots.

A post by WA business Momentum Mowing was captioned “time to finally announce our official partnership” back-dropped by the 1976 song “Take The Money And Run” by Steve Miller Band.

Osborne Park-based small business co-owner Tyler Hawker was among those to take part in the trend.

He said it was a satirical way to illustrate how the cumulative tax burden from the government feels like.

The 26-year-old said rising overheads, and multiple taxes were adding pressure on companies like CTH Electrical — the firm he self-started in 2025 and which now employs five people and has $1 million in revenue.

“It’s a lot of different taxes that add up into your business,” he said.

“I think sometimes you know small business owners are pocketing huge profits but lot of them are reinvesting back into wages, apprentices, vehicles and the like to stay competitive with pricing.

“The overheads are just going up and up and up — it’s crazy.

“It obviously goes back to the customers and now it’s becoming harder and harder for customers to accept quotes due to these prices going up.

“The revenue sounds amazing but when you put into hindsight the taxes, cost of supplies, and wages the margins just going down and down.

“In the first year we’ve done pretty well to be able to grow to five wages. I feel pretty proud to be able to pay five five wages that’s for sure.”

Entrepreneurs traditionally take on a personal debt through low incomes and reinvesting their wages back into the business before it becomes successful.

Toowoomba-based Beauty Effects posted a picture with an Al-generated Mr Albanese and Jim Chalmers who were labelled new “Silent Business Partners”.

“We are thrilled to announce that Tony & Jimmy are now the proud owner of a surprise 47 per cent stake at Beauty Effects, without ever needing to work in the actual shop,” the meme was captioned.

While IIIawarra-based That Aussie Lawn Guys posted an AI-generated Albanese, welcoming him to the business as “an official partner.”

“Bloke reckons he wants 50 per cent of the profits AND GST. Told him he can start on the whipper snipper Monday morning like everyone else,” it was captioned.

Byron Bay based Milky Media’s post announced a new “equity share holder” who “proudly owns 47 per cent” and “oversees our financials”.

“He even managed to save us an extra $250 per annum by auditing unnecessary spendings,” it was captioned.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers defended the impact of the government’s proposed tax changes on young investors on Sunday.

He said Treasury had consulted the tech and venture capital sectors prior to releasing the Budget and vowed to continue to do so — hinting a carve-out or modified implementation rule could be on the table.

“We do recognise that start-ups and venture capital, and particularly the tech sector, have got a different kind of cost-based calculation,’ he told ABC Insiders

“We recognise there’s a different case here, and we will work through the sector.

“It’s not unusual after a big tax change is announced for there to be consultation on implementation, and we flagged for some time that we are prepared to do that, and that’s already begun.”

But he pushed back for the first time on the argument that the Budget has stripped the younger generation of wealth building opportunities that benefited older generations.

He said fewer than five per cent of Aussies under-35 were rent-vesting and nine out of 10 didn’t have any shares. Rent-vesting is a strategy where people rent a home that suits their lifestyle while purchasing a property in a more affordable area to enter the property market.

Mr Albanese acknowledged it was “difficult reform” but insisted the changes were about “intergenerational fairness” and people wanting to capitalise on negative gearing would have to now play their part in boosting supply by purchasing a new build.

“It’s a difficult reform but it’s one that people have spoken about for a long period of time. People have said that we need tax reform in this country,” Mr Albanese said.

“What we’re doing here is delivering tax reform, but with a clear objective — tax reform to better align those income from assets compared with income from working, but importantly, as well, a tax reform that will result in 75,000 Australians getting access to their first home.”

Freshwater Strategy polling released on Sunday was the first temperature check of the Budget.

It showed 58 per cent of respondents believed it would cause an interest rate increase, 46 per cent said it would worsen the economy, and 83 per cent believed the negative gearing changes were a broken promise.

The Coalition have put up a competing tax system reform to tackle bracket creep, with Opposition leader Angus Taylor revealing a guarantee which index income tax brackets to inflation.

In a plan costed at $22.5 billion, Mr Taylor said if elected the Coalition would phase in the guarantee from 2028-29 for the bottom two tax brackets and then reach the top two from 2031-32.

Speaking on Sunday Agenda, Mr Taylor said it would be delivered through savings to the “climate bureaucracy, the housing bureaucracy, corporate welfare in this country.”