Housing and taxation in Australia - efficiency, effectiveness, and equity and National Shelter AGM

Earlier this year the OECD released a comparative assessment on Housing Taxation in OECD Countries. The study  covers all taxes levied on the acquisition, ownership and disposal of housing assets. 

The report found that housing wealth remains concentrated among high-income, high-wealth and older households, with housing market access increasingly difficult for young generations. 
The report identifies a number of reform options that countries could consider to enhance the design and functioning of their housing taxes, including Australia. These included strengthening the role of recurrent taxes on immovable property, lowering housing transactions taxes, capping the capital gains tax exemption on the sale of main residences, and better targeting of tax incentives for energy efficient housing renovations to reach low income households. 

The current Australian government removed all policies relating to housing taxation reform from their platform in the lead up to the May 2022 election, including halving the capital gains tax deduction and limiting negative gearing to new properties only. However, the discussion of housing and taxation must continue as government prepares a National Housing and Homelessness Plan, and we also consider the intergenerational wealth impacts of our current housing policy. 

You are invited to join National Shelter and sector colleagues to hear from the authors of the OECD report into Housing and Taxation - Sarah Perrett and Bethany Millar-Powell. Sarah and Bethany will present the findings of the report with a focus on Australian. We will also be be joined by Professor Hal Pawson and Dr Angela Jackson to provide a local context. 

This event will be preceded by the National Shelter Annual General Meeting from 5:00pm (AEDT - NSW, ACT, VIC, TAS). 

Speakers 

Sarah Perret

Sarah Perret is the Head of the Personal and Property Taxes Unit of the OECD’s Centre for Tax Policy and Administration. Her role involves assessing countries’ tax systems and advising them on tax reform. She has been leading the OECD’s work on personal income, property and wealth taxation and is the author of numerous studies on taxation, inequality and inclusive growth. Prior to joining the Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, Sarah worked as an economist for the OECD’s Directorate for Financial and Enterprise Affairs. Sarah holds two master’s degrees from the London School of Economics and Sciences Po Paris.

Bethany Millar-Powell

Bethany Millar-Powell is a Tax Economist at the OECD's Centre for Tax Policy and Administration. She has authored numerous studies on housing, taxation, inequality, and tax revenues. An advocate for transparent and reproducible research, she brings an empirical focus to tax policy analysis. Bethany holds a Master of Applied Economics and a Master of Economics and Social Analysis from the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.

Professor Hal Pawson

Hal Pawson is Professor of Housing Research and Policy at the University of New South Wales, Sydney. Hal is a Managing Editor of the international journal Housing Studies. His latest co-authored books ‘Housing Policy in Australia: A case for system reform’, and ‘The Private Rental Sector in Australia: Living with uncertainty’ were published in 2020 and 2021.

Dr Angela Jackson

Dr Jackson is lead economist at Impact Economics and Policy, with expertise in distributional analysis, labour markets, disability, health, gender, housing and fiscal policy. She has authored a number of major reports on housing policy, and the importance of investing in social housing for an equitable economic recovery from COVID-19. This includes reports for the Everybody’s Home campaign. Dr Jackson holds a Masters in International Health Policy (Health Economics) with Distinction from the London School of Economics and Political Science and completed her PhD on the Economics of Disability in Australia at Monash University’s Centre for Health Economics.