Skip to content
Ideas

I spent five years in VC. The hysterical CGT response misses the point.

Tech’s loudest voices say capital gains tax reform will stifle innovation. But founders also need local capital, affordable housing and room to take risks.

Jessy Wu Jessy is the managing director of communications agency Encour. Her debut novel Good Intentions is out in June 2026.
Make us a preferred source
Jessy Wu argues tech’s panic over capital gains tax reform misses other parts of Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ budget. AAP Image/Lukas Coch.

In the days leading up to Tuesday’s federal budget, the tech industry’s reaction to Labor’s mooted capital gains tax changes verged on hysteria.

Paul Bassat, co-founder of Seek and now Square Peg Capital, warned the proposed changes “will set back the startup ecosystem in Australia by a decade or more.”

Fellow venture capitalist and exited founder Leigh Jasper declared the industry “completely blindsided” and said he would have built his business offshore had today’s settings been in place.

They warned that entrepreneurs and investors could leave in droves to build companies in countries with more favourable CGT settings, such as New Zealand, Singapore or the UAE.

Ideas is where we publish opinion and analysis from external contributors on the most important topics in the new economy.