Tim Wilson is battling Labor’s capital gains tax changes. But in his own book he argues for going even further | Judith Brett
www.theguardian.com
On paper, the shadow treasurer is thoughtful. In parliament, performative outrage overwhelms his thinking
Tim Wilson has thrown himself into fighting the reduction of the capital gains tax discount in Labor’s budget, as well as the abolition of negative gearing on existing properties. But as Jim Chalmers pointed out in parliament, quoting from the shadow treasurer’s 2020 book The New Social Contract, these are changes he has advocated for himself.
The book reads:
Capital gains from appreciation of having and holding assets are taxed at half the applied rate, effectively entrenching the benefit of having and holding assets that can only exist if you are established. There is no intergenerational justice in such preferential arrangements.
Favourable treatment should not be extended to income derived from the holding or investment of capital that is principally beneficial to established interests. Indeed such income should be treated consistently with the income derived from labour and the application of skills.
There is a lack of intergenerational justice when those who have had the opportunity to hold (and do hold) the wealth of the nation are paying lower tax rates while having the most redistributed to them by the tax payer.
We need to rediscover the place of justice within a liberal world view … that leaves neoliberalism behind. Continue reading...
