Rather than NG why not allow losses to be written of against future capital gains? This might produce an incentive to sell, with losses expiring upon death and not passed on to the next generation.

Changes to NG are fine as long as the same rules apply to all asset classes. The incentive to build new housing, as a public goal, would be to allow NG against current income rather than future CG.

IMO there is nothing to excite anybody to invest in residential housing with massive stamp-duty, annual rates and land-taxes, maintenance and insurance that apply to no other asset class. Then there is the liquidity problem when you need to cash up, and tenancy laws that cripple commercial viability. I stupidly became a landlord 10 years ago, dumbest thing I ever did with zero capital gain and the Govt's hand out if I do happen to make one, with no indexation of cost base. I'm sure others made better property investment decisions, but my point is that nothing is risk free. NG did not much mitigate my poor investment decision and is not the path to riches the Enviati imagines.

NG is some incentive, but something greater is called for to meet the public housing deficit when half the population seems intent on feeding off the public teat, and is prepared to vote for it. The welfare state has risen to where it's pointless for some families to put in effort towards self-sufficiency with all that is on offer. Living this Nirvana surely cannot continue, but I digress.

On land-tax, I'll wager it will eventually be levied on all property to pay for public housing, not just investors, as revenue sources such as royalties in the mining states dry up.

Luciferase, many on this site, and in fact in government miss your point that there are many forms of investment other than housing and, if they leave these unchanged this will decimate the housing industry. After all, who, investor or otherwise is going to invest in something that will find it hard to hold its value.

The sad part of all this is that the billions wasted from 07 to 13, along with whats been wasted since, although a big chunk of this was unavoidable, has to be repaid, and taxes look like the only avenue.

its a very dangerous game they are playing.

I should also state that I have not had a reply to my letter to Mr Shorten.