John Fox

[Paul (Human) 🇦🇺🇺🇸 🇺🇦 @Ptyrrell]

Submission to the Senate Economics Legislation Committee
Inquiry into the Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Bill 2026 and the Income
Tax Rates Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Bill 2026
Submitted by: Paul
Date: 8 June 2026

Dear Committee Members,
What a bloody joy it is to be spending a public holiday hastily scribbling this submission against
yet another tax grab, with submissions due the day after a long weekend. Thanks, Labor, for the
masterclass in democratic engagement—squeeze the peasants while giving yourselves a nice
buffer. The Committee gets one business day after the hearings to spit out a report? Mate, that’s
not scrutiny; that’s a drive-thru rubber stamp.

This is a Breach of Trust, Pure and Simple
Labor promised before the election they wouldn’t touch CGT like this. Now here we are,
post-Budget, with a rushed bill that guts the 50% discount Australians have relied on for decades
to encourage investment, risk-taking, and building wealth. This isn’t “reform”—it’s a
bait-and-switch that punishes people who work hard, save, invest in shares, property, or
businesses, and try to get ahead.

My grandfather worked on tanks during the Second World War—not fighting on the front lines,
but doing his bit in the factories to keep the war machine running so we could have a free
country. He’d be turning in his grave right now. He fought (and worked) for an Australia where
you could own something, build something, and pass it on—not this slow march toward the
government owning everything through the tax system.

This bill is Un-Australian to its core.

Communism by Stealth – or Just Pure Economic Idiocy?
Call it what you want: communism by stealth, class warfare dressed up as “fairness,” or the
clueless ramblings of people who’ve never run a business or risked their own capital. This
change—indexing the cost base for inflation while slapping a 30% minimum tax on real
gains—will hammer investors, small business owners, farmers, and anyone with super or
shares.

It shows a complete lack of understanding of basic economics. Capital gains aren’t
“unearned” income—they’re the reward for deferring consumption, taking risk, and allocating
capital productively. Punish that, and you get less investment, less growth, lower wages, and
fewer opportunities. Houses get more expensive for first-home buyers because supply dries up.

Startups struggle to attract talent with equity. Retirees get squeezed.
Is this intended to destroy our economy for nefarious reasons? Or is it driven by pure idiocy
and ignorance? Either way, it’s a disgraceful tax. The government talks about housing affordability while making property investment less attractive and negative gearing changes that
funnel money into new builds only. Brilliant—because nothing says “fix the housing crisis” like
discouraging existing stock turnover and punishing mum-and-dad investors.

Allow Me to Illustrate (in Fair Dinkum Terms)
This is like the government looking at a successful

Aussie who built wealth through hard yakka
and saying, “Nice nest egg you’ve got there... it’d be a shame if inflation + our new rules ate
most of it.” Or telling a farmer who held land for 30 years: “Congrats on the gain! We’ll index the
dirt for CPI, but don’t forget the 30% floor so we still get our cut.” It’s the economic equivalent of
your mate who borrows your ute, crashes it, then sends you a bill for the petrol he used on the
way to the wreckers.

We already have one of the highest marginal tax rates in the world combined with this. Now
you’re effectively raising it further on capital. Genius. What’s next—taxing the air we breathe
because it has “appreciated” in value?
Conclusion and Urgent Request

This rushed process is an insult to proper governance.
Major tax reform deserves months of
consultation, not a few days squeezed around a long weekend. I urge the Committee to
recommend rejecting or significantly amending these CGT provisions. Protect the 50%
discount, scrap the arbitrary 30% floor, and stop this attack on aspiration.

Australians deserve better than being treated like cash cows for endless government spending.
My grandfather’s generation built this country on freedom and opportunity—not envy and
confiscation.

I oppose this bill as you should all.

Paul
Victoria

[Richard Holden @profholden]

I can't believe I'm saying this, but @Barnaby_Joyce is right. "You buy assets out of after-tax income." That's why every advanced economy taxes capital gains at a lower rate than ordinary/labour income. And if we want to lower the burden on workers th en we should tax labour income less and consumption more.
https://t.co/lYstzlhn60

[Trader Cobb @TraderCobb]

Let me get this straight.....

If I invest 500k into a startup, take all the risk, put in years of work and become one of the very small % that succeed in a meaningful way — when I sell, under the new budget the government takes 47%. They funded nothing and took zero risk. On a 500k capital gain that's $235,000 gone.

And here's the kicker: because a founder builds from nothing, there's almost no cost base to index. The new "inflation discount" shelters almost nothing for the people who actually build companies. It was designed to hit you hardest.

If I take that same 500k to the casino and put it all on black and win, I make $500k and they tax nothing. The time to either win or lose is in seconds, and the outcome if I win is better. The probability of winning is 50% — far better odds than the startup, and a lot faster.

So this government will back the gambling companies — they refuse to budge on their own findings and recommendations despite being in complete power — and they'll prop up gambling, but they'll shoot innovation in the head.

Founders, leave now is the message.

Fair?
#auspol

[Convict_Conviction @holl66582]

Albo (ft. Chalmers) just reformed the tax system for everyone except himself. Both his investment properties are grandfathered, so he keeps the negative gearing. His old Marrickville place is CGT free under the 6 year rule. And his parliamentary pension, pre 2004, around $350k a year indexed for life, no caps, no Division 293, no transfer balance limit, didn't get a mention. He's happy to tax aspirational Gen Y/Z capital gains to plug the deficit while drawing a retirement no normal worker could ever touch. That's not reform mate, that's intergenerational protection racket.

@GeoffWilsonWAM @matt_barrie @cjoye @markbouris @AlboMP @JEChalmers @TimWilsonMP @AngusTaylorMP

[Leigh Jasper @leighjasper]

There has been a groundswell of small business owners, tech founders and aspiring entrepreneurs realising the magnitude of this change, and it is growing by the day. The Government needs to decide whether it actually wants a vibrant business sector in this country, because you cannot champion innovation while making the equity model that underpins it unworkable. This is a disaster, plain and simple. @tryheidi
https://t.co/uRb8OMauy5

[christopher joye @cjoye]

You and your team start, and work in, a business. You put $250k in to get it to break-even. After a decade of blood, sweat and tears, your business is worth say $5 million. Under Labor's proposal to effectively double capital gains tax by indexing it to inflation, you would see a 96% increase in the tax you would otherwise pay today. You would pay more tax in Australia than if you set up *three* of these $250k businesses in Canada, NZ and the UK, and them sold them for $15m in total. And we were told by the government more than 50 times before the election that they would not touch CGT or negative gearing. Check out this table summary of the change in total CGT paid @GeoffWilsonWAM

[Chris Brycki @chrisbrycki]

One of the biggest tax changes in decades will be announced in next week’s Federal Budget. The widely expected CGT changes won’t just affect wealthy investors or property owners... they affect anyone trying to build long term wealth through shares, investment property or building a business.

To help Australians understand the potential impact, we’ve built a CGT calculator that estimates how much better or worse off people could be under the proposed rules: https://t.co/WFVQzYuMnt

A few examples from the calculator:
• An ETF investor growing $100k over 10 years could end up with around $26k less after tax
• A property investor could lose more than $50k in after tax wealth
• A founder building and selling a business for $1m could lose more than $225k

If you materially reduce the after-tax reward for taking long term risks, fewer people will invest in businesses and productive assets. Over time that means less investment and innovation, fewer startups, lower productivity growth and ultimately fewer jobs in Australia. I discussed this in The Australian last week. https://t.co/2XmT26CTsd

Instead, more money gets pushed into the family home, super or cash sitting in the bank.

That’s why entrepreneurs and business leaders including @PaulBassat, @GeoffWilsonWAM, @leighjasper, @matt_barrie, @lux_schwab, @lukeanear, @Bron_LeGrice, @MJBiercuk and @craigRblair have all raised concerns about the broader economic consequences these changes could create.

We thought if people could properly quantify what these changes might cost them over time, it would make the broader economic impact much harder to ignore.

The calculator is designed to help Australians model different scenarios before any final rules are announced: https://t.co/WFVQzYuMnt

[Paul Bassat @PaulBassat]

The federal Government has the fate of Australia’s startup sector in its hands.
In the next few days we will find out if we have scored a massive own goal and stopped a decade’s remarkable progress in its tracks or if the Government has reflected and changed course ahead of the budget. The mooted policy changes will be a kick in the guts for the economy generally and especially small business but will uniquely impact startup founders and employees.

This is not about a pampered sector wanting to be treated differently but a decision about the sort of country and economy we want. We are sitting on the cusp of the greatest employment transition in our history. AI changes everything. Many, many jobs will disappear and we MUST create new jobs to replace those that will disappear.

Startups are the engine that create large numbers of high paying, highly productive new jobs for young Australians. We don’t want founders building offshore or not building at all as a result of bad policy.

[Ryan Dally @Ryandally08]

#BREAKING Treasurer Jim Chalmers is reportedly considering removing the 50 per cent capital gains tax discount from all assets, not just investment properties, in a move which will decimate Australians who own shares or businesses.

The new tax proposal has been labelled “intergenerational betrayal,” arguing Aussies who sold their businesses or shares would now pay double the tax.

Meaning the business that you worked hard for to get up and running will now be worthless once you sell.

All the money will be going to the Albanese Government to help pay for the 3,500 immigrants he is currently importing.

Per day.

[John Fox @fox_john]

@seanfrank Love the pod. I’m running a small growing ecom store and it keeps me going. Thanks to you & the guys for sharing.

[John Fox @fox_john]

@OwenRask Great tweet 🎯

[Ramp Capital @RampCapitalLLC]

Me: Can I get a light roast?

Starbucks barista: You’re a mediocre investor and you’d be better served buying low-cost index funds.

[Alex Cohen @anothercohen]

As a parent to two little kids, instead of hiring a babysitter to watch the kids so we can go out, all I really want is a service where I can drop my kids off and enjoy a child free night at home with my wife.

That’s the perfect date night

[DAN KOE @thedankoe]

You can’t improve what doesn’t exist.

Your first product, writing, video, code, or design will always suck. It will always be a failure.

The sooner you start building the sooner you start learning.

The longer you horde knowledge the longer it takes to start learning.

[Santiago @svpino]

Google, this is embarrassing.

You published an impressive video showing Gemini answering your questions. It looked awesome. It looked real-time.

But it was a lie. None of that happened as recorded and presented to the public.

Instead, you cherry-picked frames and edited a video in a way you knew it would impress people.

That's misleading, and anyone who participated in this charade should be embarrassed.

I hope I'm wrong.

Read their disclaimer:

"We've been capturing footage to test it on a wide range of challenges, showing it a series of images, and asking it to reason about what it sees."

[John Fox @fox_john]

@OwenRask @navexaau @ntrouss @RaskAustralia That’s awesome, great to hear.

[Justin C Scott @iamjustincscott]

The #1 regret of the dying:

“I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”

Your dreams will go fulfilled or unfulfilled due to the choices you do or do not make.

Here’s how to live a life free from the bitter pain of regret:

[Dalton Caldwell @daltonc]

If you aren't willing to start small it's hard to get started at all.