'Flawed, illogical': Wilson says opposition to tax reforms 20-fold stronger than franking credit changes

Public opposition to a proposed new tax on unrealised capital gains is far greater than it was to changes to franking credit refunds, which arguably cost Labor's Bill Shorten the 2019 Federal election.

That's the view of investment boss and social media operative Geoff Wilson, who says a petition launched against the changes to capital gains tax rules is attracting 20 times more signatures than his 2019 petition against changes to franking credit rules. 

"We've been running the petition five days and have over 10,000 signatures already, so around 2000 a day and we only got 100 or so a day at times with the opposition to the franking credit changes," Wilson told Livewire on 5 June.

The fundie argued this means the petition is seeing 20 times the support than his franking credits campaign, despite the changes to capital gains tax laws only impacting an estimated 80,000 people, versus around 1 million previously targeted by changes to franking credit rules. 

"So what does that tell you?" he said. "It tells you this tax is flawed, illogical, stupidity of the highest order and it has significant negative consequences for the economy, which people realise when they understand it."

Proposed changes

As its stands, the Labor party plans to tax unrealised capital gains in superannuation balances worth more than $3 million. 

This means if the value of an investment such as an ASX stock climbs on a total balance of more than $3 million then the unrealised capital gains tax must be paid on the gain even if the share is not sold. 

"If they run this to the next election they will lose significant seats because of it," says Wilson. "We're not concerned about paying a higher tax, it's just taxing unrealised gains is appalling policy."

Wilson also attacked the new bill on the basis it excludes individuals with defined benefit pension schemes - such as the politicians - who expect others to pay tax on unrealised gains. 

After Labor's election win in May, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has signalled his party plans to introduce the bill to the Senate and if passed the law could commence as soon as July 1. 

The Liberal party were against the changes, while the Greens argued the threshold should be lowered to $2 million, but supported indexation. 

"We have a short period of time between now and July, so we really wanted to send a clear message to government with this petition, that this is madness," says Wilson. 

If the legislation is passed the stock picker vowed to keep the petition running to the next election, when he warned Labor would be forced to count its political cost.