Overview
- The May 2026 budget replaces the long‑standing 50% capital gains tax discount with an inflation‑indexed approach and introduces a 30% minimum tax on discretionary trusts, with the trust rule planned to start around July 2028.
- The government plans to introduce legislation on CGT and negative gearing in early June and to press for passage by July, seeking likely but conditional support from the Greens.
- Ministers have opened consultations with the tech and start‑up sector and signalled possible limited carve‑outs for startups and specific treatment for employee stock options.
- Business groups and some economists warn the package will reduce investment and hurt productivity, and analysts have suggested the combined policy shift and rate rises could lower national housing prices by several percent.
- About one million trusts exist in Australia and discretionary testamentary trusts are used to protect inheritances, prompting the government to consider exemptions and to exempt trusts for agriculture, vulnerable people and charities from the new minimum tax.