u/NoLeafClover777

Everyone gets so tied up and focused on things like race, house prices, 'the economy' and similar topics as the only possible reason people can be against high immigration, but what about simply preferring there to be fewer people here?

Case in point, each morning now when I go to get on the train to commute into the city (Sydney) it is pretty much sardine-can level cramming in, barely able to fit into the carriage and having people rub up against you just in order to fit on.

In just a small matter of years ago, this was nowhere near the case and it was even possible to get a seat. There obviously has not been proportionally enough additional services put on in order to cater to the population growth.

Same deal with just walking through the city, you basically have to keep walking at all times as there will always be someone walking behind you, or trying to get a spot at the beach, or in carparks of shopping centres, or any other numerous cases that don't have anything to do with the 'bigger issues'. You know, actual lived daily quality of life stuff.

Is it 'evil' or does it make you a 'bad person' to simply prefer things to be less crowded, or especially at least slowing down the pace at which things are becoming more crowded?

Especially given there's been no real efforts made to encourage regional development, and basically force everyone to cram into the capitals for employment purposes?

PAYWALL:

Less than 40 per cent of capital gains earned by individuals come from property, undermining the Albanese government’s claim that increasing the tax for all assets will help young home buyers, as investors urge Labor to restrict the changes to returns from housing.

A bit over 60 per cent of capital gains for individuals come from ASX-listed shares, managed funds, trusts and other assets such as collectables, according to an analysis of Australian Taxation Office statistics by AFR Weekend.

Investors are asking why shares, businesses and other non-property assets are caught up in the capital gains tax overhaul.

Activist investor John Wylie urged the Albanese government to narrow the changes to residential housing, or risk chilling business investment in innovation and jobs. Wylie, founder of Tanarra Capital, said the 50 per cent capital gains discount had been a significant tax incentive for risk-taking entrepreneurs.

“It’s important we have a more nuanced policy between passive investment and lazy house flipping which doesn’t produce new jobs, and investing in real businesses,” Wylie told AFR Weekend on Friday.

“The last thing the government should be doing is discouraging entrepreneurship, risk-taking and new business formation because that’s what creates the industries and jobs of the future for Australia.

“It would be wise for government to rethink this because the pendulum has swung too far.”

Wylie is a prominent businessman and former investment banker, who has previously served as chairman of the Australian Sports Commission and Melbourne Cricket Ground Trust, and president of the State Library of Victoria.

The government’s budget on Tuesday announced it would axe the 50 per cent discount on capital gains for investors in property, shares, established businesses, start-ups and other assets from July 1, 2027, but the changes need to pass parliament before they are enacted.

Treasury said replacing the flat discount with cost-base inflation indexation and taxing real gains at a minimum rate of 30 per cent would ensure different asset classes are taxed more consistently, based on inflation, rates of return and length of ownership. Treasurer Jim Chalmers said it would better align the taxation of capital and labour income.

The government is already considering changes to calculations for how start-ups are taxed on capital gains, after founders and investors warned axing the 50 per cent discount would hit innovation and send entrepreneurs offshore.

Start-ups have a very low or zero cost base, meaning a successful venture can earn extremely high capital gains that would be more punitively taxed at up to 47 per cent under an inflation indexation model, compared with a maximum of 23.5 per cent at present.

Shadow treasurer Tim Wilson said the tax changes will hurt many aspirational Millennials and Gen Zs investing in shares to help save for a home.

The Financial Services Council said a 25-year-old on the median income investing $10,000 in shares would now pay an additional $7552 in tax over 20 years, with the effective CGT rate rising from 15 per cent to 28.8 per cent under the proposed framework.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Friday continued to sell the CGT and negative gearing changes as a housing policy to help younger buyers.

“Aspiring first home buyers are being locked out of the market by tax breaks that favour property investors,” Albanese told the Chifley Research Centre in Canberra. “The distortions have become entrenched, widening a gap between the generations – and eating-away at aspiration.

“Since 1999, when the changes to capital gains were introduced, house prices have risen by more than 400 per cent.”

Despite the government linking the CGT discount to huge house price growth since the turn of the century, Treasury said in the budget papers that removing it and restricting negative gearing to future new homes would cause prices to decline by only 2 per cent.

“Tax changes have a small one-off effect on prices, which suggests the CGT discount was never a driver of house price growth,” former Treasury senior tax official Geoff Francis said separately.

The Parliamentary Budget Office in a costing released last year said 38 per cent of reported net capital gains relate to residential property. ATO figures analysed by AFR Weekend similarly show the proportion of capital gains coming from property was 39 per cent in 2022-23.

Blake Briggs, chief executive of the FSC which represents fund managers such as AMP, BlackRock and Vanguard, said if the government’s objective is helping young Australians buy their first home, the reforms should be targeted at housing rather than applied across all asset classes.

“The government’s proposed CGT changes have expanded from a housing equity measure into a broad-based tax increase on the almost two-thirds of capital gains that are derived from other asset classes, such as shares and managed funds.

“While framed around intergenerational equity and housing affordability, the changes instead increase the tax burden on Australians investing for their futures through equity markets with the goal of building their long-term financial security.”

”Many younger Australians rely on investments to save for their deposit, and the broad-based tax takes the government further from its policy objective.”

Under Labor’s changes, the capital gains system will switch back to inflation indexation model, that taxes real gains at a minimum rate of 30 per cent.

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said the changes will hurt many aspirational younger investors.

“He is pulling up the ladder of opportunity for the next generation not only by whacking higher taxes on housing but also on their savings, investments, and small business,” Taylor said in his budget reply speech on Thursday night.

Tax academic Miranda Stewart said the 50 per cent discount was originally aimed at encouraging share investment, but it’s not clear that the new system will tax all investors more.

“The changes could even stimulate equity investment as rental properties become less attractive,” said Stewart, who was previously seconded to Treasury to develop changes for capital taxation.

The introduction of the 50 per cent capital gains tax discount followed a recommendation in the 1999 business tax report for the Howard government by businessman John Ralph, which argued the change would create a nation of shareholders and encourage investors to buy and sell assets more frequently.

But Treasury said the concession had the opposite effect.

Analysis released with the budget found that in the 25 years since the discount was introduced, the share of tax filers declaring dividend income had fallen almost 20 per cent, while the proportion earning rental income from investment properties had risen more than 10 per cent.

Treasury argued that while the 50 per cent discount had been more favourable for investors in existing houses on land since 1999, investors in ASX-listed shares and apartments could have been better off under inflation indexation.

For an investment held for 10 years, Treasury estimated the appropriate discount would have been 36 per cent for houses, 50 per cent for apartment and 56 per cent for Australian shares.

“This means the current CGT discount has the potential to significantly distort investment decisions, incentivising investment in existing houses,” Treasury said.

Peter Bembrick, a tax partner at accounting firm HLB Mann Judd, said different investors could pay more or less capital gains tax.

“It’s possible some people pay less tax under indexation than the 50 per cent discount.

“But the real kicker is the minimum 30 per cent for some people.”

PAYWALL:

The construction industry is being pushed to the brink as a second wave of price rises stemming from the Middle East war increases the pressure on smaller builders and tradespeople, who were already overrepresented in insolvency statistics before the conflict began.

Plumbing supplies giants Reece and Tradelink have notified builders and trade customers of further price rises for June and July, while prices for many products used by electricians are climbing, with surcharges of 10 per cent from May 1.

Company collapses in the construction industry are running at about 24 per cent of total insolvencies, according to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

“We have seen a material increase in distress across the construction sector over the past couple of months,” said Matthew Hutton, a partner at insolvency and restructuring firm McGrath Nicol.

“Many construction businesses and subcontractors are looking at how they can deal with rising raw material costs due to increased fuel prices and continued wage pressures, particularly in circumstances where they are locked into existing fixed price contracts.”

“There is no wriggle room in their already tight margins,” he said.

Liam Bailey, the managing partner of insolvency and restructuring group O’Brien Palmer, said the construction industry was struggling before the war because of the rising costs of building materials, labour and insurance premiums since the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I feel for builders. They truly are the sponge in the middle under so many pressures. They’re being squeezed by developers and by suppliers, they’re being squeezed in the middle,” Bailey said.

Interest rate increases by the Reserve Bank of Australia will add to the pressures, he said.

Tradelink, which operates 200 outlets across Australia selling bathroom and plumbing supplies, listed a range of price increases from June 1 in a pricing update seen by The Australian Financial Review.

The cost of Reln plastic pipes will rise by between 23 and 35 per cent, Kembla copper fittings will lift 8 per cent, and Lightning Building Products brass products will go up 6 per cent. Linkware taps, shower heads and towel rails will be 8 per cent to 13 per cent more expensive from July 1.

Reece Group price rises in June range from 10 per cent for Ardent and Dura brassware, and up to 30 per cent for plastic pipes from Holman Distributors.

Reece has more than 600 outlets in Australia that sell bathroom and plumbing supplies. A notice from Pipemakers Australia, a Sydney-based plastic pipes supplier, said high-density polyethylene pipe would increase in price by up to 20 per cent from June 1.

“These changes are driven by ongoing cost pressures across our supply chain, including resin, additives, rubber rings, packaging materials, fuel and freight,” said a letter to Pipemakers customers from one of its divisional managers.

Pipemakers had previously put through a price rise on April 13 of up to 40 per cent. Crude oil is an important ingredient in the manufacturing of plastics, with fuel costs having soared since the start of the Middle East war in February.

Iplex, a plastic pipe supplier, will also put through a second round of increases, notifying customers of another increase on June 1 of up to 7.5 per cent on polyethylene pipes because it had “continued to experience supplier-driven increases across a broader range of materials”.

Prices of brassware and copper products used in plumbing and construction have also been rising because of high global demand for copper, an important component in the wiring infrastructure in data centres, which are being built at a furious pace around the world as the use of AI climbs.

Are there any builds out there that take advantage of playing as a polymorphed elemental (ideally air but any of the others if better) for most of the game?

I liked how fast you move around when polymorphed as one when I played my Elemental Rampager build, but that class is entirely focused around into polymorphing into something with 'claws' like a dragon or Smilodon to take advantage of its bonuses and special abilities.

So is there any feasible way to make playing as an actual Air Elemental on Core difficulty that doesn't feel extremely gimped? I guess there would be builds for tanking around being an Earth Elemental but I hate how slowly they move.

Googled around for this prior to posting and couldn't really find anything... thanks!

Honestly, what am I missing here?

I said a couple of months ago this would only work or make sense if they did this properly & separated out (existing) residential property into its own asset class for tax purposes, and reduced the CGT discount specifically on housing.

The entire purpose this has been framed as is making houses a less-attractive investment compared to other asset classes, thus causing more money to flow out of existing housing stock and reducing pressure on Australian house prices.

And yet, it seems they are just going to go ahead and blanket apply it to all assets instead of ring-fencing existing houses - which when you combine with the continuation of easier access to leverage from the banks that Property gives you - will just result in houses still being the default option... achieving nothing other than raising more tax revenue.

The excuse of 'oh it's too complicated to do it that way' feels pretty damn weak. It would also likely just make parking money in an Offset account even more appealing than now, discouraging entrepreneurialism & economic dynamism even further.