Budget 2026: Can Australia Tax Its Way to Affordability? With Cameron Kusher and Cate Bakos

In this episode of Behind the Numbers, we unpack the 2026 Federal Budget and what it could mean for housing, renters, investors, inflation, and the broader Australian economy. The government says the proposed changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax are designed to improve affordability and create more opportunity for first home buyers. But with Australia already facing critically low rental vacancy rates, rising construction costs, and not enough housing supply, we ask whether these reforms risk placing even more pressure on renters. We discuss: why the Budget may have created two property classes in Australia what happens if investors leave the market faster than new housing is built how rising rents could become an unintended consequence of the reforms why regional Australia could feel the pressure hardest and whether younger Australians are facing a very different pathway to wealth creation than previous generations We also explore the broader economic contradiction sitting underneath the Budget, with inflation still being driven by global instability and energy costs while the Reserve Bank continues using higher interest rates to slow the economy down. It is a direct and practical conversation about what these changes could actually mean for everyday Australians over the next few years.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.