Forty Australian business owners under 40 have penned an open letter to the prime minister, saying his tax reform is an "aspiration ambush".
The self-described "young business builders of Australia" from technology, artificial intelligence, retail and manufacturing sectors told Anthony Albanese that his budget has hit them the hardest.
"We work the hours. We carry the risk," the letter read.
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"We do it because we believe in the business we are building, and because we have been told, repeatedly, that this spirit of having a crack is exactly what the country needs.
"Unfortunately, the budget your government just announced tells us a very different story."
The budget has decreased the generous capital gains tax (CGT) discount to 30 per cent, adjusted to a cost base indexation, grandfathered negative gearing and discretionary trusts as a way to support younger people to enter the housing market.
But business owners have been swept up in the changes, which the founders claim will affect every growing business in Australia.
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?"
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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 is being mocked by small business owners around the country who have taken to social media to post AI-generated photos depicting the prime minister as their new business partner, claiming he will be taking 47 per cent of their earnings when they sell their company.
The budget's tax reform has not yet passed parliament. The Coalition have vowed to fight them but the Greens are undecided.
Albanese and senior members of his cabinet are currently on a nationwide campaign to spruik the budget and explain the changes.
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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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