Love it when boomers compare their trials and tribulations to those of persecuted minorities.
Look, of course it’s a generalisation. There are many boomers who (despite their generation’s obvious advantages) have struggled.
Just like it’s a generalisation to say millennials are doing it tough. There are patently many millennials who are doing very well - despite their generation’s disadvantage.
What I do find off-putting is the boomers (IN GENERAL) apparent need to deny that any such advantage exists. It’s just a fact.
Those circumstances you mentioned about housing aren’t just coincidences. They’re policies put in place by boomers for the benefit of boomers. And they’ve done very well. Boomers are 25% of the population - they have 50% of the wealth.
But I get boomers struggle with facts, unless they read it on Facebook news
They were policies put in place by a conservative government to look after their rich friends and themselves. Age does not enter into it and separating classes by generation for a political argument is just a straw man.
But if it makes it easier for you to understand complex issues and to blame the previous generation for all the ills of society, go right ahead. It is much easier than thinking.
They are not fiercely protected by a specific generation they are protected by fear and ignorance. Any time change to them has been suggested it has been attacked with a similar enthusiasm by the opposition and a right wing press as when mining super profit taxes were suggested.
See previous comment on mums and dads family home.
You might want to put a bit more thought into that argument, people of any generation accumulate assets as they age, of course wealth is skewed towards the generation reaching retirement, as it is in countries that don’t have our housing issues.
While I don’t doubt the general trend is also true in Australia, that data is from the US which is massively skewed and has a different set of issues (some of them far, far worse)
You might argue that every older generation has more wealth- as it’s had more time to accumulate. Eventually the generation dies off and its wealth passes to the next generation.
But boomers have a much longer average life span than prior generations. A jump we’re not likely to see this generation (in fact it’s looking like it may go the other way). So they have had more favourable conditions to accumulate and longer and they will continue to retain that wealth for longer.
I mean if you need to see the distribution of wealth, just look at first home buyers. In 2010, 3% of first home buyers were taking loans from parents, these loans averaged $10k. Now, 59% are receiving loans from parents and the loans are over $100k. No wonder you have a very disaffected generation that is looking at how unfair the property market is and looking to blame pretty much anyone for their problems.
Then start blaming the political party which halved CGT on homes, introduced negative gearing and ran a scare campaign when Bill Shorten tried to fix it.
I’m not sure why this is the particular hill I choose to die on, but I think it bears repeating:
There is no preferential CGT treatment for property vs any other class of investment (except for the CGT exemption for principal place of residence).
Quite simply, the CGT discount/exemption rules are:
50% CGT discount on capital gains after holding an asset for more than 12 months. This applies equally to property, shares, works of art, wine…anything that can potentially appreciate in value
No CGT on your primary home (principal place of residence)
No CGT on personal use assets (cars, furniture…anything that is “not an investment”)
No CGT on inheritance and superannuation
Again, I don’t mean to sidetrack the conversation here, but every time someone suggests that CGT on investment properties is somehow treated differently to literally any other type of investment, I get nerd-sniped in responding.
That’s the problem right there. Housing should not be a class of investment. Treating it as if it is by halving CGT brings investment dollars into housing which raises the price. Instead of halving it they should double it.
