Anthony McDonald

That was 12 months ago, James.

As soon as there's any tax reform as it gets labeled,

You know, there's somewhere out there that's going to be worse off, and there's a huge outcry.

So what we get is we get tinkering to the tax system without wholesale changes.

And I'm not saying that's good or bad, but just pointing it out.

And on this one, I mean, the carve-outs are very clearly aimed at not going after small businesses.

There's that argument going around that the hairdresser who ran a salon for 20 years and employed five or six people, always done the right thing, paid tax, looked after customers, employed people, that maybe they'd want to retire up the coast, sell the business, and under this new regime, they'd get slugged with capital gains tax like they wouldn't have in the past.

I mean, that argument...

And I'm not sure it fully stacked up, but that argument should be gone now.

And it's gone because like you said, that $10 million turnover, it's a decent hurdle.

98% of small businesses, like the government said, have less than $10 million of turnover.

So they should be exactly the same as they are today from a capital gains tax perspective.

I mean, in theory, a lot of people should be happier, but I'm not sure they will be, James.

I'm not sure how many people out there in mainstream Australia understand the ins and outs of capital gains tax or that 50% discount or what indexing to inflation means.

And until you can come out and call this a genuine tax cut...

Without having to step through the complicated examples, I think there'll be pushback until you can call something a tax cut.

And I'm not at all surprised the government made changes.

We've spoken about it in recent weeks.

They get the exact same pushback on the superannuation tax changes a year or two ago.

This government's very tuned in for politics.