Weekend house auction results and the official taxation data reveal the arguments from outraged conservatives are hollow Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Has a policy ever worked as quickly as the changes to the capital gains tax (CGT) discount? It hasn’t even become law yet and already it is having an impact despite conservatives loudly telling everyone the discount was not the cause of the housing affordability crisis. Last week in my role as chief economist for the Australia Institute, I appeared before the Senate committee into the tax changes .