Australian news and politics.

[Monoethnic Social Club]

FMD!!

A young relative of my wife is about to buy her first house which is a small 25 year old 2 bedroom townhouse in a block of 20....

Cost $800K...

I told her that because it's like 25+ years old there's a good chance a lot of the house's plumbing and electrical infrastructure will soon have to be replaced....

I told her she should have a $10K contingency fund in place for repairs over the next few years.

She looked at me as if I had two heads!!

Yeah your not far off 25-40 years is that sweet spot where everything goes to hell... although I reckon a lot of these new HEBEL waffle pod slab estate hellholes are going to last a lot less than that... An acquaintance bought brand new less than 5 years ago in Caroline Springs and already has cracked slab and leaking eaves....

 

[Football us life]

Yeah your not far off 25-40 years is that sweet spot where everything goes to hell... although I reckon a lot of these new HEBEL waffle pod slab estate hellholes are going to last a lot less than that... An acquaintance bought brand new less than 5 years ago in Caroline Springs and already has cracked slab and leaking eaves....

My house is 8 years old I moved in when it was brand new and the first 5 years were maintenance free but since then and I've probably spent about $10K on little things that have gone wrong....

I mean generally speaking I've been pleased with it but to be honest the new build wasn't for me it was for the wifee...

I prefer the older heritage style houses which we had before but apparently they and I quote "look too old"....

 

[Monoethnic Social Club]

My house is 8 years old I moved in when it was brand new and the first 5 years were maintenance free but since then and I've probably spent about $10K on little things that have gone wrong....

I mean generally speaking I've been pleased with it but to be honest the new build wasn't for me it was for the wifee...

I prefer the older heritage style houses which we had before but apparently they and I quote "look too old"....

You know what they say "Happy wife ... less chance of being murdered in your sleep".

 

[Football us life]

You know what they say "Happy wife ... less chance of being murdered in your sleep".

During the new house build, the builder guided us through the design process with the help of a interior designer to help bridge the gap between his standard options and 'our' personal vision....

This option added about 5K to the total cost. The missus went to the tile place 3 times before picking 'her' floor tiles.

6 months later she's looking at the floor tiles which run throughout the house, kitchen and bathrooms and said...."These floor tiles don't really go with this house...."

 

[patjennings]

Didn't listen to Taylor's reply - just saw the news so correct me if I'm wrong or not nuanced enough. He said he would return bracket creep each year. So if inflation was 2% the brackets go up by 2%. Equally if inflation was 7% the brackets would go up 7%.

With such a pro-cyclical approach I'm sure the RBA wouldn't raise interest rates.

 

[Alex M]

[

Is there an annual tax free threshold for this? Germany allows the first 1000€ per year of capital gains to be tax free then the 70% of the gain is taxed at 25%.

Yes its equal to the inflation rate. Pretty much how it worked for the first 15 years of it's existance.

 

[Keeper66]

Yes its equal to the inflation rate. Pretty much how it worked for the first 15 years of it's existance.

I think what you are saying is that the cost base gets adjusted upward each year by the CPI (inflation rate). A capital gain only occurs when you sell, and capital gain equals selling price minus adjusted cost base. I think what JS96 is asking is after you have made a capital gain (by selling an asset), is there a part of that capital gain that is untaxed because of a tax-free threshold. For example, if you made a capital gain of $10,000 and there is a $1000 tax-free threshold for capital gains, you would only pay capital gains tax on $9000.

As far as I am aware, there was nothing in the budget suggesting that there would be a tax-free threshold for capital gains, rather that all capital gains would be taxed at a taxpayers marginal rate or 30%, whichever is higher.

 

[patjennings]

I think what you are saying is that the cost base gets adjusted upward each year by the CPI (inflation rate). A capital gain only occurs when you sell, and capital gain equals selling price minus adjusted cost base. I think what JS96 is asking is after you have made a capital gain (by selling an asset), is there a part of that capital gain that is untaxed because of a tax-free threshold. For example, if you made a capital gain of $10,000 and there is a $1000 tax-free threshold for capital gains, you would only pay capital gains tax on $9000.

As far as I am aware, there was nothing in the budget suggesting that there would be a tax-free threshold for capital gains, rather that all capital gains would be taxed at a taxpayers marginal rate or 30%, whichever is higher.

That sounds right to me - but Alex is also right in that that is how it worked when introduced until those who introduced the 'intergenerational report' also decided how to create the problem.