show tax deductions for rental properties disproportionately benefit the well-off. More than a third of benefits go to about 500,000 landlords in the top 10% of income earners. About another third goes to the 20% immediately below them.
True, there are also about 200,000 landlords in the bottom 10% of income earners, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re poor. Treasury this group “tend to have higher incomes”, but make “relatively large average deductions” that “substantially reduce their taxable income”., “people who negatively gear have lower taxable incomes because they are negatively gearing”.
High wage earners can borrow more to invest in property and have the most to gain from reducing tax through negative gearing. It’s no surprise cardiologists and politicians are more likely than school teachers and police officers to be landlords. The average federal MPQuality media outlets are not immune from the “mum and dad” language. This year it has cropped up in a Guardian