The 2026 Federal Budget has three legal changes that no finance commentator is talking about. A lawyer breaks them down and they affect far more people than you’d think.

If you have a family trust, a property acquired before 1985, or any connection to Australian assets as an expat, last night’s budget just changed your legal position. In some cases, rules that have been settled for forty years.

I’m breaking down three specific mechanisms:
1️⃣ The 30% discretionary trust tax, with no legal definition yet of who’s actually caught
2️⃣ The end of pre-1985 CGT exemptions, and the valuation nightmare that follows
3️⃣ Draft legislation that reaches back to December 2006, nearly 20 years, and why CPA Australia publicly described it as alarming.

This isn’t political commentary. It’s legal analysis of what the drafting actually says and what it means for you before these laws take effect.

Chapters
00:00 The Budget Changes Australians Are Missing
01:34 Bomb 1: The Family Trust Tax Trap
04:13 Bomb 2: The End of Pre-1985 CGT Protection
08:04 Bomb 3: Retrospective Tax Laws and Sovereign Risk
11:47 The Rule of Law Problem Underneath It All
12:33 What Australians Should Do Now
13:24 How to Push Back Before the Law Passes
14:31 Links to Make Submissions and Contact Parliament
15:00 What This Says About Australian Lawmaking

📣 What You Can Do
Some formal consultation windows may already have closed for particular measures. But as draft legislation develops, Australians can still engage directly with the process:

🔹 Treasury consultations: https://treasury.gov.au/consultation
🔹 Parliamentary committees & public submissions: https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Submissions_Open
🔹 Find and contact your local MP or Senator: https://www.aph.gov.au/senators_and_members

💬 Got a legal question?
Subscribe to the channel and post it on the Community tab! That’s where I select questions for Q&A videos.

🔔 SUBSCRIBE if you want legal analysis that cuts through the noise, and SHARE this video if you think more Australians should know what’s actually happening in the legal world around them.

James Glissan is a former police prosecutor and practising criminal defence lawyer in Australia. He explains how the legal system actually works, including the parts that don’t make the headlines.

#Australia #Federalbudget #Capitalgainstax #Taxlaw #Familytrust

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