Jun 3, 2026 – 12.00pmGeoff Francis, a former senior tax official at Treasury, caused a stir when he honed in on a highly technical but important point about the Albanese government’s changes to the capital gains tax discount, warning they could mean share investors pay tax rates of up to 60 per cent.Australia hasn’t had an income tax rate that high since the 1980s, so Francis’ comments grabbed attention, particularly when coupled with the comments from his brother and investor Derek Francis who declared that shares were now “uninvestible” outside of superannuation.Subscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? Luke KinsellaReporterLuke Kinsella is a journalist based in The Australian Financial Review’s Sydney office. He was previously a policy analyst at Treasury.Fetching latest articles
Do Labor’s tax changes make shares ‘uninvestable’? We ran the numbers
Labor will push real effective tax rates higher for diversified portfolios than for single shares, but nominal rates show shares remain far from “uninvestable”.
TL;DRAI
Australia's Labor government modified capital gains tax rules, raising effective share tax rates to 60% per Treasury official Geoff Francis. The change makes equity ownership less attractive outside superannuation, signaling a global rethink of investment incentives.
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