Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) president David Airey has hit back at media comments regarding the payment of Capital Gains Tax (CGT) on family homes, saying the government has no plans to impose such a tax.
Yesterday, The Australian Financial Review reported that the family home should not be exempt from CGT.
But, according to Mr Airey, Dr Ken Henry has made it clear in the article that CGT would not be imposed on the family home and has never even been on the Government’s agenda.
The news piece follows an earlier article in The Australian last August, stating that the Rudd government was “considering slapping a wealth tax on the country’s most expensive family homes as part of a wide-ranging and radical review of the tax system, chaired by Treasury Secretary, Dr Ken Henry”.
On that occasion, Treasurer Wayne Swan immediately released statement confirming the government had no plans to impose a family home CGT.
REIA president David Airey said the issue regarding CGT on residential homes has already been “put to bed” last year.
“It seems absurd to raise this matter, particularly in the context of an election campaign, when the government has been very clear that it will not consider imposing CGT on the family home”, Mr Airey said.
“In the current political environment, I call on all parties and independent senators to take the stance that the Government has taken and rule out the imposition of CGT on Australian homes,” he said.