The Coalition has dubbed the trust changes in Labor’s budget a ‘death tax’. Experts say that’s wrong

The opposition has dusted off an old scare campaign and repackaged it. What is the truth behind Labor’s changes to trusts in the budget? Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The Coalition has dusted off an infamous scare campaign, calling the Labor government’s changes to trust rules a “death tax”. Anthony Albanese has called the death tax claim “complete nonsense” and “misinformation” while the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has repeatedly stressed “there are not inheritance taxes or death duties in the budget”. But while some financial and tax specialists say it’s definitely not a “death tax”, they point out there will be higher taxes on beneficiaries of wills, potentially giving rise to a scare campaign. So what are the changes, and is it wrong to call it a death tax? The budget proposes a 30% minimum tax on trusts, which could see some individual beneficiaries on lower tax rates paying more tax overall. At the moment, there’s no minimum tax rate on trusts. Discretionary trusts allow income earned from assets held by the trust – such as a business, property or shares – to be s