Two in three Australians would vote for a political party that promised to reverse this year’s changes to negative gearing and the capital gains tax (CGT) discount according to new research from OurTop10.
The nationally representative survey of 1,018 Australians, commissioned from PureProfile, found 66% would back a party making that pledge, including 18% who would vote for it on that promise alone, regardless of its other policies.
A further 49% said they’d back the pledge but would also weigh up the party’s broader policies. A third (34%) said the promise wouldn’t win their vote.
The findings land as both the Coalition and One Nation have pledged to restore the 50% CGT discount and negative gearing, with One Nation proposing to cap negative gearing at two properties per investor.
Under the reforms, announced in the May Federal Budget and passed by Parliament in June, the 50% CGT discount will be replaced from 1 July 2027 with a 30% minimum tax rate on capital gains. Residential properties bought after Budget night (12 May 2026) are no longer eligible for negative gearing, though new builds and properties bought before that date remain exempt.
Support for reversing the changes was broadly consistent across generations, with Gen Z, Millennials and Baby Boomers all recording combined support of 68%, against 63% for Gen X.
Younger Australians were more likely to make the pledge their deciding issue, though: 20% of Gen Z and Millennials said they’d vote for a party on that promise alone, compared with 19% of Gen X and 14% of Baby Boomers.
Homeowners were more likely than renters to back a reversal, with combined support of 69% against 59%. Nearly one in five homeowners (19%) said they’d vote for it regardless of other policies, compared with 15% of renters.
Mansour Soltani, Head of Research at OurTop10, said the results suggested a pledge to reverse the changes could resonate as strongly with younger voters as with older generations.
“These reforms were sold as the fix to ‘intergenerational inequality’, but they’ve clearly curdled with younger voters. They’re just as likely as older Australians to vote for a party that would scrap them, and more willing to put that promise ahead of everything else. That should ring alarm bells: the generation these reforms were supposed to help could help vote them out,” he said.
Mr Soltani pointed to a mix of pressures weighing on younger buyers and owners.
“Younger Australians were promised a leg-up, but some feel they’ve been sold a dud. Four rate hikes this year have slashed their borrowing power, so even with prices falling, many still can’t get into the market.
“And those who stretched to buy with a 5% deposit are now watching their home’s value slide, with some already falling into negative equity. Meanwhile, the wealth-building strategies their parents and grandparents used are being taken off the table. To them, that looks less like levelling the playing field and more like pulling up the ladder,” he said.