Aussie John joins Turnbull’s team of liars

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From Fairfax:

The Turnbull Government’s chosen cheerleader against changes to negative gearing, “Aussie John” Symond, said in 2013 that the current system is “unfair” because it favours high income earners buying multi-million dollar properties.

In the past month, Mr Symond, the founder and chairman of Aussie Home Loans, has warned of plummeting house prices and a possible economic recession in Australia if Labor’s proposed changes to negative gearing are implemented.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull raised Mr Symond’s comments during Friday’s live leader’s debate to attack Opposition Leader Bill Shorten’s proposal, which he said would force up rents and reduce the supply of rental properties.

But Mr Symond’s recent statements conflict with what he said during an appearance on the ABC’s Q&A program on November 11, 2013.”Negative gearing does need to be looked at in the tax system because I don’t think it’s fair at the moment . It leans very heavily to the high income earners and that needs to be brought into line, as is hundreds of other aspects of the tax system,” he said.

“Negative gearing wasn’t designed for people who can afford to go and buy $1 million, $2 million, $3 million houses or apartments for negative gearing to offset the bulk of their interest payments off their tax,” he said.

Go back to Point Piper, liar!

About the author
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.