By Andrew Mackinnon

Last updated: 4th June, 2026

Abolish capital gains tax (CGT), since it is a highly offensive violation of property rights of Australian citizens, Australian businesses and Australian not-for-profit entities over assets exhibiting capital gains.

Capital gains tax in Australia constitutes less than 10% of all tax revenue collected in Australia by the Australian federal government.

In fact, the percentage of total tax revenue collected by the Australian federal government that is attributable to capital gains tax is so small that I have not been able to find out what this percentage actually is on any Australian federal government website. The Australian federal government has deliberately concealed this information from Australian citizens, Australian businesses and Australian not-for-profit entities.

The Australian federal government does not levy capital gains tax on Australian citizens, Australian businesses and Australian not-for-profit entities because it needs tax revenue from capital gains tax.

The Australian federal government levies capital gains tax on Australian citizens, Australian businesses and Australian not-for-profit entities only because it does not want them to have the full capital gains to which they are legitimately entitled.

Capital gains should not be taxed under any circumstances.

Capital gains tax is in direct opposition to property rights. With capital gains tax in force, if an Australian citizen saves up some money and invests it in shares (or any asset), then they quite obviously do not have full property rights to the asset they purchased because if they later sell that asset for more than they paid for it, then the Australian federal government wants a cut of the capital gain via capital gains tax. If they had full property rights to the asset they purchased, then they could sell that asset and keep the full amount they receive for it without paying any capital gains tax.

An Australian citizen who trades shares in order to make capital gains and who then withdraws a portion of their accumulated capital, in order to fund their living expenses, does not earn any income and should not be taxed on the capital gains they make. Instead, they are consuming a portion of the capital they have accumulated, in order to fund their living expenses.

However, income tax should be abolished, so that there should no longer be any need to tax income anyway.

For your consideration…

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