During the Howard Government’s reign we had “Howard’s battlers” – ordinary middle-class nuclear families who reveled in middle-class welfare dished-out over the Government’s 12-years in office.
In 2016, we have “Malcolm’s battlers” – those so-called ordinary middle-income property investors using negative gearing to “get ahead” in life, as explained by Treasurer Scott Morrison here:
In Australia, private rental accommodation is supported by a large pool of mum and dad investors making private rental stock available, through negative gearing. By number, almost 80% of these investors are middle income Australians earning $80,000 a year or less, owning just one property. They are school teachers, police officers, nurses and office workers saving and investing to provide for their financial security.
And again here:
“[Shadow treasurer] Chris Bowen thinks everyone who’s on negative gearing is on a rort,” he said.
“He thinks they’re big property barons and you’ve got to go and tax them and slam.
“Well, for most middle-income people it is the one chance they’ve got to build some wealth.”
Now The Shovel has published a funny take on “Turnbull’s battlers” residing in ordinary places like Toorak and Mosman:
New modelling released by the Government shows that the nation’s poorest suburbs take advantage of negative gearing laws most, not wealthy suburbs as previously thought.
Residents of Toorak in Melbourne’s inner suburbs are the highest users of negative gearing, yet their taxable income last year was just $82.50. In Mosman, on Sydney’s north shore, the taxable income is just $17.92, but households here rely heavily on the negative gearing scheme too.
“When you look at negative gearing through the lens of social welfare, as this modelling suggests you should, then I think we get a very different picture of its importance to Australia,” Treasurer Scott Morrison said today. “In light of these figures, it would be socially irresponsible for the Government to cut back on negative gearing concessions”.
Toorak residents were surprised by the findings. “What idiot lets his taxable income get to $82.50?”one Toorak man said. “Clearly some people need better accountants”.
Obviously The Shovel is a satirical news website and its comments are tongue-in-cheek. However, they also happen to be not that far off the mark. As shown in the below table published on The Project on Wednesday night, Malcolm Turnbull’s own electorate of Wentworth is the biggest user of negative gearing, whereas all of the top 10 electorates are held by the Liberals, most of which are high income areas:
These are the real battlers the Government is seeking to look after.
