Australia’s emerging entrepreneurs from the tech, AI, retail, and manufacturing sectors have voiced their concerns to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, asserting that the recent budget has disproportionately impacted them.
“We put in the long hours and shoulder the risks,” they expressed in an open letter.
“Our commitment is driven by a belief in the businesses we are creating, and we’ve been consistently encouraged that this pioneering spirit is what the nation needs.”
“Yet, the budget unveiled by your administration sends a contrasting message.”
The revised budget reduces the capital gains tax (CGT) discount to 30%, incorporates cost base indexation, and implements changes to negative gearing and discretionary trusts as measures intended to assist young Australians in accessing the housing market.
However, entrepreneurs argue that these changes inadvertently encompass business owners, potentially impacting every expanding enterprise across the country.
Most of the signatories said they supported the CGT changes on the sale of residential investment properties but drew a line at shares.
“The changes to the CGT discount on shares will do nothing to make houses more affordable; all they will achieve is to suck the ambition, drive and hope out of the hearts of young business builders nationwide,” the letter reads.
“Surely that can’t be the plan?”
The letter was signed by 40 business owners, including those from workout supplement company Pillar Performance, link-in-bio tool Linktree and AI-led menu and ordering platform me&u.
“Prime Minister, we respectfully look forward to your reply,” they concluded in the letter. 
Albanese and senior members of his cabinet are currently on a nationwide campaign to spruik the budget and explain the changes. 
They have reiterated that there is a one-year grace period before the CGT changes come into effect, consultation with the start-up sector and support for businesses who want to restructure their discretionary trust to a fixed trust.
Businesses with existing concessions will not be affected by the changes.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers told reporters yesterday he chose to include shares in the CGT changes so he does not “introduce new distortions into the system”.
“Those distortions which were introduced by Howard and Costello made a negative impact on housing in particular, and we don’t want to replace one set of distortions with another set of distortions,” he said.
“This is about a fairer, more neutral treatment of capital gains.”
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