Victory for farmers as ‘legalised theft’ tax plan scrapped

TasFarmers president Ian Sauer has welcomed the Federal Government’s decision to abandon plans to tax unrealised capital gains on superannuation, calling it a major win for advocacy, rural communities, and especially family-owned farms.

TasFarmers was one of the first organisations to condemn the proposal, along with the former Minister for Primary Industries, Jane Howett, who warned it would unfairly target farmers and undermine intergenerational farm succession when it was first announced.

Ian Sauer said the idea was “outrageous” from the start, highlighting how disconnected Canberra has become from rural realities.

“Taxing unrealised gains was nothing short of legalised theft,” Mr Sauer said.

“This wasn’t just a policy tweak; it was a new tax regime. The notion of taxing unrealised gains before an asset is even sold goes against every principle of good policy and economic logic.

“We were one of the first to call this out, and we didn’t let it go. TasFarmers wrote to and lobbied Federal Ministers, and we weren’t on our own because every major economist in the nation said that it was rubbish,” said Mr Sauer.

Farmers commonly use self-managed superannuation funds as part of their long-term retirement and succession planning. The original proposal would have forced some farmers to sell assets just to pay tax on gains they hadn’t realised.

“This outcome proves that advocacy works, but we can’t stop here. Policy must be built on fairness and consultation, not sprung on people without warning.”

“We would urge the government to, when making policy decisions, engage with the people it’s going to impact most,” Mr Sauer said.

TasFarmers is now urging the Government to rule out any future attempts to apply taxes to unrealised gains, and to ensure that superannuation policy reflects the real-world needs of farming families and small business owners.