Australian taxpayers could be missing out on billions of dollars a year while wealthy landowners make out like bandits, amid efforts to tackle housing affordability.
The Albanese government's fifth budget attempted to reshape Australia's tax settings in favour of owner-occupiers over property investors.
But it neglected to address a "deep unfairness" at the heart of the nation's housing policy, according to a report released by think tank Prosper Australia on Wednesday.
In recent years, state and territory governments have been easing zoning laws, like raising maximum building height limits, in a bid to boost housing supply and ease affordability pressures.
While upzoning is widely lauded by economists as an effective measure to boost supply, report authors Tim Helm and Henry Williams estimated it was also giving away $11 billion per year in windfall gains to property owners.
