The election may be over, but Australia’s treasurer for the Property Council of Australia, Scott Morrison, has continued running the lie that making changes to negative gearing would disadvantage middle-class families. From SBS News:
Treasurer Scott Morrison is sticking to his guns on housing investment tax concessions, saying making changes to negative gearing like those proposed by Labor would disadvantage middle-class families.
The treasurer estimates voters split 50/50 on the issue at the July 2 federal election, a result that hasn’t persuaded him to change his mind.
“I don’t accept the argument on negative gearing … it would disadvantage those middle-class families, those ordinary families, the vast majority of who are the predominant investors in this area,” Mr Morrison told ABC radio on Wednesday.
So, according to Morrison, middle-class families are the “predominant investors in this area”.
Funny, because the 2016 Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey, released last week, comprehensively debunks this claim.
As shown in the below table, the top 20% of income earners owned 45.5% of all investment properties in 2014, whereas the top 20% of wealth holders owned 52.8% of investment properties:
Moreover, the top 40% of income earners held 69.1% of all investment properties in 2014, whereas the top 40% of wealth holders held 75.2% of all investment properties.
So tell me Scott, how is it that middle-class families are the “predominant investors in this area”? The data clearly contradicts your claim.
In other words, stop lying Scott.
