‘Mum and Dad investor’ ex-prime minister John Howard caught up in capital gains tax real estate controversy

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John Howard, creator of the current capital gains tax regime, and wife Janette have recently become bank of mum and dad property investors – and thereby caught up in the tax controversy.

John Howard, creator of the current capital gains tax (CGT) regime, and wife Janette have recently become bank of mum and dad property investors – and thereby caught up in the tax controversy.

For decades, the Howards have maintained their two-storey Wollstonecraft family home, which cost $54,000 in 1974.

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Former prime minister John Howard has been caught up in the CGT tax net.

With this Wollstonecraft family purchase.

The couple, who first laid eyes on each other on Valentine’s Day in 1970, had three children after they married in 1971.

It was for the youngest son, Richard, that they have co-bought a nearby $1.8m townhouse in the Berkshire Park townhouse estate with Westpac financing.

Richard, John and Janette each own one-third as tenants in common.

The house had previously traded in 1998 for $488,000.

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Former prime minister John Howard. Picture: Rohan Kelly

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The CGT got changed in September 1999 when the prime minister and his treasurer, Peter Costello, discontinued Paul Keating’s 1985 system of adjusting the asset’s cost base for inflation and introduced the 50 per cent CGT discount for individual taxpayers.

The 2007 Ruddslide ended Howard’s 33-year hold on the seat of Bennelong.

He and Janette moved out of Kirribilli House, the PM’s official harbourside residence, after being there 11 years.