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ARTICLE · 14 MAY 2017

Budget 2017: affordable housing, infrastructure and tax

Corrs Chambers Westgarth
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The budget included measures to address housing affordability but resisted structural changes to the taxation system.

AustraliaTax
Mark Payne
Mark Payne
Kieran Egan
Kieran Egan
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As widely anticipated, Scott Morrison's second budget included a number of specific measures to address housing affordability but resisted structural changes to the taxation system.

Much less anticipated was a new tax (or rather a levy) imposed on the big five Australian banks. Last night's budget followed a recent trend we've seen in announcing a number of measures designed to protect the revenue base. There was a particular focus in this regard on foreign residents. The measures are also designed to encourage investment in particular sectors of the Australian economy. A number of taxation issues that were to be addressed – such as a Petroleum Rent Resource Tax and the use of stapled structures to re-characterise trading income – have been deferred.

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