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The Australia Institute’s senior economist, Matt Grudnoff, has written another article blaming the capital gains tax (CGT) discount for Australia’s housing affordability woes, while absolving the role played by excessive immigration-driven population growth.
According to Grudnoff, “the CGT discount is the culprit for big increases in house prices in the past two decades. After it was introduced in 1999, prices began to increase much faster than incomes”:
While the CGT discount would have contributed marginally to Australia’s house price inflation, Grudnoff conveniently ignores that home prices have soared globally over the same period:
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About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness.
Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.