Labor handed down its 2026 Budget with great fanfare and even greater spin. Treasurer Jim Chalmers declared it a Budget for “all Australians.” But for young Australians who dream of building something, starting a business, and creating their own future, this Budget offered almost nothing.

It is a Budget of no aspiration. It is a Budget that grows government, grows regulation, grows dependency – and shrinks the space for ordinary Australians to get ahead on their own terms. Every dollar Labor spends is a dollar extracted from the private economy, from families, from small businesses, and from the savings of people who are simply trying to build a better life. This is not a plan for national prosperity. It is a plan for national dependency.

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said it plainly in his Budget Address in Reply: this Budget is “an assault on aspiration.” He is right. And Australians are waking up to it.

Small Business Left Behind

Australia’s small business community, the backbone of our economy, was largely overlooked. As independent analysis confirmed, the Budget delivered minimal tax relief for small and medium enterprises with no structural incentives to invest or grow.

Shadow Treasurer Tim Wilson, speaking before the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, warned that Labor was making it “harder to build, harder to hire and harder to grow.” He said entrepreneurs are bogged down by red tape and excess compliance measures, with a regulatory burden that “crushes enterprise and energises complexity.” The Budget proved his warnings well-founded.

For a young Australian wanting to open a tradie business, launch a retail store, or start a hospitality venture, the message from this Budget is clear – good luck, you’re on your own.

The Attack on Negative Gearing and Capital Gains

Perhaps the most damaging aspect of this Budget is what it does to the investment foundations that generations of Australians have built their futures on. Labor’s changes to negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount are not, as Chalmers claims, about fairness. They are an attack on the wealth-building mechanisms available to ordinary Australians.

As Angus Taylor made clear in his Budget reply, “Labor’s negative gearing changes will hand over housing investment to multinationals and foreign pension funds” – not to young Australians. And Labor’s increase to the capital gains tax “will discourage the investment Australia needs to grow.” When you tax investment, you get less of it. Less investment means fewer jobs, fewer opportunities, and a weaker economy for the next generation.

As if that were not enough, Tim Wilson exposed a hidden 30% death tax buried in the Budget papers, targeted at popular family trusts. “Young Australians who invest in ETFs, crypto and shares have realised this Budget is targeted at kneecapping their savings,” Wilson said. Anthony Albanese repeatedly promised no new taxes – and was then caught hiding one in the fine print.

No Reward for Risk-Taking

A growing wave of young Australians is already pushing back, with entrepreneurs, investors and workers warning that Labor’s tax overhaul is crushing aspiration and the country’s appetite for risk. They are right to be alarmed.

Labor has built a Budget that rewards dependency and discourages ambition. There are handouts and rebates, but no structural incentives for young Australians to build, invest, or take entrepreneurial risks. Tim Wilson put it well: Australia needs a budget that “restores living standards by backing self-starters and small business” – one that lowers barriers to entry, reduces needless complexity, and makes it easier to hire, expand and invest. This Budget delivers the opposite.

A Debt Legacy for the Young

While Labor celebrates modest surplus projections, the structural trajectory of spending is alarming. As Angus Taylor warned, “Labor’s reckless spending will soon see our country one trillion dollars in debt.” The cost of that debt will fall squarely on the shoulders of those just starting out – young workers, young families, and young business owners who will carry this burden for decades.

Taylor was unambiguous: “The only way to get debt down is to throw this bad government out.” And he has committed that a Coalition government he leads will repeal Labor’s toxic taxes. That is the alternative – a government that backs Australians to get ahead, not one that taxes them into submission.

Australia Deserves Better

Turning Point Australia believes in a future where young Australians are empowered to take control of their own lives – to build businesses, create jobs, and pursue success without the government standing in the way.

This Budget does not offer that future. It offers managed decline dressed up as compassion. Labor is, as Taylor said, “pulling up the ladder of opportunity for the next generation” – whacking higher taxes on housing, savings, investments, and small business.

Australia’s young people deserve a government that backs their ambition, not one that taxes it, regulates it, and bureaucratises it into submission. Labor’s Budget 2026 is not a plan for the future. It is a plan for dependence – and young Australians deserve far better than that.