Australian farmers desperate for answers over unrealised capital gains tax as Jim Chalmers works to overhaul super

7NEWS

26-07-2025

Should you be required to pay tax on money that you haven't earned yet?
That's the question being asked around a new tax brought in as part of the federal government's changes to superannuation.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers is looking to overhaul the way super is taxed, changing concessions for super balances over $3 million.
But the sticking point for farmers and farming families is the new tax on unrealised capital gains.
This new tax will mean if an asset held in super goes up in value, the account holder will be required to pay tax on that increase.
With the threshold for this change set at $3 million, it is being sold as a 'rich people tax' but that doesn't show the whole picture.
Jack Neilson, a cattle farmer from western Queensland, said the new tax was going to hurt hard-working Australians — 'especially in agriculture'.
'Jim Chalmers needs to realise he's not just catching the yacht-owning yuppies with this $3 million rich people tax that they are trying to sell it as,' Neilson said.
Neilson pointed to the difficulties in getting young people into agriculture, calling it a 'minefield'.
'What a lot of farming families do is that, mum and dad, the operators put the actual property into a self-managed super fund,' he said.
'That way it is then leased to the next generation so that the next generation gets going and starts their farming careers, essentially, and mum and dad still make, a little bit of an income.'
Nationals Leader David Littleproud told 7NEWS.com.au farmers were doing what they could to keep their property in their family.
'Farmers' properties are their superannuation,' he said.
'And that's why when self-managed super funds came in, many farming families put their properties into these self-managed super funds, because that was a way — a vehicle — for them to be able to bring the next generation through.'
The unpredictable nature of income as a farmer has raised questions about the practicality of paying tax on unrealised gains as an increase in the value of the land doesn't directly point to an increase in income for a farmer.
Katie Nash, a farmer and rural advocate, has also questioned the policy.
'If the land value goes up but the income stays the same, how are they supposed to pay the tax without selling the farm?' she said.
'How are they supposed to survive that?'
However not everyone is sympathetic to the situation.
Graeme Samuel AC, a professor at Monash University's Business School in Melbourne, said putting property into super wasn't about inheritance — but tax avoidance.
'For those that are caught with unrealised gains, what I'd say is question number one: how did you get into this position in the first place? Why did you put these assets into a super fund? And be honest about it, don't give us the myth that it's all about providing for the next generation, because that's what family discretionary trusts are designed to do,' he said.
The National Farmers' Federation estimates around 3,500 farmers will be directly impacted by the new tax.
And they maintain that where income is made, tax should be paid.
But when the gains are unrealised, they argue the tax just doesn't seem fair or justified.
President of the National Farmers Federation David Jochinke said the law was going to force families to sell up.
'It just baffles me why we're even talking about something where we haven't got either the capacity to pay, or it's going to force family farms to have to sell an asset that not only the parents require for their retirement,' he said.
'It also takes away from that family farming unit, which we all know needs to stick together — especially in tough times — to survive.'
Jochinke wants the government to reconsider the legislation.
'The principle of having to pay a tax on an uncystallised asset is completely wrong and what we consider un-Australian,' he said.
'Let's actually have a talk about how we can manage superannuation when the assets crystallise, when farmers have got the cash to pay. And that's what we're just calling for. Let's make this a common sense piece of legislation, not a ridiculous one.'
Sarah Tulloch, a farmer from NSW who has seen first-hand the impact of the pressures farmers, said she was worried about adding another pressure on the industry.
'They will lose a lot more than just their properties. There's farmers committing suicide daily just with what they've got going on at the moment with droughts and floods,' she said.
'To add this extra pressure, for people who are already doing it tough ... yeah, it's just not going to have good consequences.'
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has repeatedly said he is committed to an overhaul on super taxation, saying it will make a meaningful difference in funding other priorities.
7NEWS.com.au reached out to the federal government in response to the concerns from farmers and farming families.
'We listen respectfully to the NFF and farmers but this is a modest change, introduced in a methodical way, that won't affect the vast majority of Australians,' a spokesperson said.
'Our changes only apply to about half a per cent of people with more than $3 million in super, who will still get generous tax concessions, just slightly less generous ones. The changes are all about making our superannuation system fairer and more sustainable.'