Labor may not have sufficient support in the Senate for its proposal to abolish cash refunds for excess dividend imputation credits if it wins the 2019 federal election. Labor would require the support of the Greens and four crossbenchers to pass the reforms before the current Senate is dissolved on 30 June. However, nine of the 10 crossbenchers oppose the policy, with Fraser Anning describing it as a “socialist retiree tax”. In addition, none of the current senators support Labor’s proposal to restrict negative gearing to new homes, although some favour capping the number of properties that can be negatively geared. The AFR:
A survey of the entire Senate crossbench shows that Labor, if it wins the election, has next to no hope of passing either the negative gearing or franking credit changes before June 30, 2019, the date the term of the existing Senate expires.
