https://tankie.tube/videos/watch/d4e79613-32cf-4109-9eb2-abfc117726a9 0:00-2:06 Intro 2:06-4:08 What is the CGTD? 4:08-7:43 Informal Bureaucracy 7:43-9:54 Periodisation 9:54-15:13 1956-1973 15:13-19:29 1973-1983 19:29-28:45 1983-1996 28:45-33:21 Summary So Far 33:21-41:02 1996-present 41:02-50:18 Conclusion Script and sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/117d8hSrmpK3ZUg5W_WBySLXoPua9zXAa-2t9QD7arYM/edit?usp=sharing In what’s being touted as “the most unfair tax break on the books,” the capital gains tax discount is back in the news. Media outlets are speculating again whether or not the current Labor government will reform the tax break, and the usual chorus of progressive voices are, to varying degrees, calling for change. The implementation of this tax break, introduced by the devil John Howard, has turbo-charged Australian house prices, causing the unaffordability crisis which we’re reckoning with today. This tax discount means the Australian government is foregoing $250 billion in tax revenue in the next decade, money that could be going to schools, hospitals and new housing. Only by reforming or outright abolishing the discount, can we hope to solve our housing unaffordability crisis. But frankly this isn't true. There is this totalising narrative incredibly pervasive in Australian progressive spaces. At its most moderate, this narrative suggests tinkering with existing tax settings, like decreasing the CGT discount or limiting negative gearing. At its most radical, it harkens back nostalgically to the post-world war II period, suggesting a return to the true realisation of the Great Australian Dream. This sentiment is coming from a good place. But, at its best, it allows people to believe solving the housing crisis is an easy fix, all down to the bad policy decisions of one man. Often, it’s a coping mechanism that staves away the nihilism or doomerism which would undoubtedly rise if real estate was looked at more holistically. At its worst it covers up that more holistic perspective, distorting the unfortunate reality of our housing problems, funnelling dissent into being harmless. Reforming the CGT is a part of a raft of policy proposals which mark a progressive or left-wing nostalgia for the post-war period in the 1950s and 60s, where the Great Australian Dream was supposedly realised. Not only is this incorrect, but dangerous. The state of affairs of that period is not the solution to our problems today, but arguably where they started. Sat, 04 Apr 2026 05:33:02 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html PeerTube - https://tankie.tube https://tankie.tube/lazy-static/avatars/3ba3ff73-a8b6-49c9-add8-9653ef090c7f.webp https://tankie.tube/videos/watch/d4e79613-32cf-4109-9eb2-abfc117726a9 All rights reserved, unless otherwise specified in the terms specified at https://tankie.tube/about and potential licenses granted by each content's rightholder.