Albanese keeps door open to negative gearing changes amid rumours of pre-election work

The Prime Minister has not ruled out making changes to negative gearing and the capital gains tax amid reports Federal officials had begun looking at scaling back the tax breaks in a move that could shape the next election.

Asked directly and repeatedly about reports from the Nine Newspapers that Treasury had been asked for advice on possible changes, Anthony Albanese attempted to return focus to the Government’s current housing policy, but kept the door ajar.

When asked if his Government had requested such modelling, Mr Albanese said the public service often looked at policy ideas but Labor: “Have a housing policy, it’s out there for all to see... It’s currently being blocked by the Liberals, the Nationals and the Greens”.

“What our Government is considering is fixing housing supply by getting our legislation through the Senate. That’s what we’re considering,” he said when asked if he was considering making changes to the tax concessions.

When asked if he would rule out making such changes, Mr Albanese said “I talk about what we’re doing, not what we’re not doing, and what we’re doing is trying to get that legislation through the Senate”, a reference to the Help to Buy and Build to Rent schemes.

A reporter asked him to confirm the Government had asked Treasury for modelling, to which he said: “I didn’t confirm that”.

“Treasury, I’m sure, like other departments do a range of proposals and policy ideas. I want a public service that is full of ideas,” he said.

The future of negative gearing and capital gains tax has been disputed for years, with Labor taking reforms to the 2019 election.

The Greens, who could prove vital for Labor should it fail to win majority government at the next election, want the tax breaks to come to an end, while the Coalition warns doing so could harm investors and make the housing problem worse in the long run.

Overhauling the system could improve the budget by billions every year.

Coalition finance spokeswoman Jane Hume said while there was nothing wrong with the Government considering anything, the fact Labor was “lying to the Australian people about whether they’re considering it, is another issue entirely”.

“As recently as last week, the Prime Minister was (on this program) and saying the questions were not very clever,” Senator Hume told ABC Radio.

Asked what position the Coalition would take should Labor seek to progress the reforms, Senator Hume said they would have to wait and see.

“We’ll rule out anything that reduces supply and rule out anything that pushes up rents. If the proposal that the government has – this secret plan to change negative gearing – does that, then we will oppose it,” she said.

“I can’t rule out a policy that I haven’t seen.”

Independent MP Allegra Spender said: “Every tax should be on the table” because the current system was not working.

“The current tax system is leaving young people behind. Older households get wealthier while under 35s barely move. We need to lower taxes on young working people, and tilt the tax system towards home ownership for those locked out,” she said.

Nationals senator Matt Canavan said the fact the Government was even considering reforming was proof they were preparing to get the Greens on their side in the likely event of a hung parliament.

“It’s pretty hard to see how the Labor party gets elected on its own right, and they’re preparing the groundwork to do deals with the Greens here after the election,” he said.

“I don’t see how raising taxes on people is going to encourage housing investment and get housing prices down for the long term.”