Aussies demand end to real estate ‘handouts’

A majority of Australians want property tax handouts that are “making the housing crisis worse,” abolished, a new survey has found.

Most Australians want tax handouts for property investors abolished, according to a new poll.

Three in five voters support limiting or removing negative gearing and the capital gains discount, a RedBridge poll commissioned by Everybody’s Home has revealed.

Everybody’s Home spokesperson Maiy Azize said housing stress is rife, and many voters can see that investor tax handouts are unfair and make the housing crisis worse.

“Most voters support the federal government limiting or abolishing tax handouts for investors. Less than a quarter want to stick to the status quo,” she said.

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Three in five voters have said they want new tax reform to alleviate housing issues. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The poll also revealed that nearly half of voters are in housing stress, spending at least 30 per cent of their income on housing. One third were spending 40 per cent or more.

“The appetite for change is here, and it’s happening in the absence of leadership from the major parties who are afraid to champion tax reform,” Ms Azize said.

“This housing crisis has been decades in the making as successive governments have chosen to featherbed private investors while walking away from building homes themselves – they have turned their backs not only on people on the lowest incomes but also on ordinary Australians who are struggling to afford a place to live.”

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Nearly half of voters are in housing stress according to the poll. Picture: Tim Hunter.

Those who didn’t have an investment property were more open to the changes, the poll showed.

Young Australians aged 18-34 were hit the hardest, with half of that cohort spending 40 per cent or more of their incoming on housing, according to RedBridge.

That compared to just 9 per cent of those aged 65 or older.

Ms Azize said it was “political folklore and a tried trope” that negative gearing cost Labor the 2019 election.

A poll revealed young Australians were worst off, with half spending 40 per cent or more on housing. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Swift

She said there is a huge opportunity for the politicians who are “bold enough to take on this policy reform.”

“Five years on and a worsening housing crisis later, Australian voters want reform on unfair tax breaks for investors.”

“The federal government must abolish these unfair investor handouts and use the savings to build hundreds of thousands of social homes. It’s past time our national leaders prioritised housing for all over the profits of investors.”

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Originally published as Aussies demand end to real estate ‘handouts’