Australian tech founder Frank Greeff decries CGT reforms after $180m sale

The Australian 2026 federal budget replaces the long‑standing 50 percent capital gains tax discount with an inflation‑adjusted indexation method and introduces a minimum 30 percent rate from July 2027. The change, aimed at fairness, has been criticised by the startup community as a disincentive to venture investment.

Sydney entrepreneur Frank Greeff, who sold his real‑estate marketing platform Realbase to Domain Holdings for $180 million (plus up to $50 million in earn‑outs), has led a high‑visibility social‑media campaign against the reform, using AI‑generated images of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and claiming that the new 47 percent rate would cripple employee equity schemes. Greeff’s own sale, however, saw equity limited to a small group of founders and early staff, while the majority of Realbase’s 350‑plus employees held no shares.

Greeff argues that broad employee ownership is a vital pathway for young Australians excluded from the property market, yet the budget also cuts other startup‑support programmes such as the Trailblazer R&D collaboration and the Economic Accelerator, further tightening funding and commercialisation pipelines for Australian innovators.