New analysis from The Australia Institute shows that the biggest winners of negative gearing are high income earners and Liberal Party held electorates, meanwhile it presents a double-hit for under 40s who are the biggest losers.

Key results:

• Those aged over 40 years old receive 71% of the benefit of negative gearing, while those 40 and under receive only 29% of the benefit
• The top 20% of income earners receive 49.8% of the benefit of negative gearing compared to the bottom 20% who only receive 6.2% of the benefit
• 8 of the top 10 electorates which benefit most from negative gearing are held by the Liberal Party, while the biggest beneficiary is the electorate of Wentworth

“The analysis released today by the Government confuses the number of people who negatively gear with the size of the benefit. Australia Institute analysis shows there’s a lot of people getting a small amount from negative gearing, and a very small number of very high income earners who are getting a lot,” said Matt Grudnoff, senior economist at The Australia Institute.

“Younger Australians are the big losers from negative gearing. It’s a double hit for the young with many being priced out of home ownership in part because of the very tax concessions they are mostly missing out on.

“It’s no wonder the Morrison Government is such a fan of negative gearing, eight of the ten electorates which benefit most are held by the Liberal Party and they’ll be seeking to win the biggest beneficiary, Wentworth, back at the next election.”