At last week's Tax Forum, David Koch, once finance reporter, now better known as Sunrise's Kochie, added his voice to the many speaking out against the tax loopholes that distort the property market and push up house prices.

What struck me about Kochie's statement was the example he gave of a TV advertisement that told investors to get into property and ''let the taxman pay half''. Hang on. Who's the tax man? Wayne Swan? No. We're all the tax man. What the ad should have said is invest in property and ''let your fellow Australians pay half''.

The ‘tax men’ of Australia are subsidising housing investment for no public benefit. Illustration by Suzanne White.

Not only are we all the taxman, we all, in one way or another, suffer from the high cost of housing in Australia, driven in part by the tax loopholes around investment housing.

I am sure, that among the 1.6 million taxpayers claiming negative gearing deductions, there are parents with adult children still living at home because they can't afford to move out and there are parents with adult children struggling in the rental market. And I'm sure there are people who would like to buy a home to live in, but can't afford to buy close to their jobs and family, so they have invested instead.