Female business founders are lashing the federal budget, arguing sweeping tax changes will punish mothers who started small businesses to raise their children on their own terms.

On budget night, Treasurer Jim Chalmers replaced the 50 per cent capital gains tax (CGT) discount with an indexation model for all assets.

The change means that Australians who own shares and businesses will no longer receive the discount when they sell after July 2027, and will instead pay tax on their indexed capital gain at their marginal income tax rate of up to 47 per cent, or a minimum of 30 per cent.

It has sparked massive backlash from investors and entrepreneurs – with female founders the latest cohort to speak out.

Among them is Heidi Trusler, founder of telehealth speech pathology company Pop, who said she had put everything on the line to start her own business in 2016, only to be hit with the same tax as if she had stayed working at Queensland Health for 10 years.

“I think what the prime minister doesn’t understand is he can just go and get a job his whole life — he doesn’t have to sacrifice his career or anything when he has a family,” Ms Trusler told news.com.au.

“But for most women, especially entrepreneurial women, we’re looking for ways to be nurturing primary carers and build a career and build wealth for our families at the same time.”

The mother-of-two said single incomes were no longer adequate to raise a family and through Pop, she had created a model where she was able to work from home to be with her children. Many of her 100 female employees were in the same situation, the 34-year-old said.

“A lot of women choose to start small businesses and then hopefully grow them and grow that capital and grow that asset from home, because it’s a model that works for them — we can’t all just have a baby and rush straight back into the office.

“It’s not what every woman wants. Some women want that of course, but it’s not what I wanted.”

Ms Trusler argued that capital gains from building a business should not be taxed like wages, given the significant risk and personal sacrifice involved.

“The deal within the rules was that there was going to be a pay-off for all my sacrifices at the end. I’d be able to sell and get that benefit at the end, but now they’re changing the goalposts.”

She said the change wouldn’t just impact her own wealth, but that of all future mothers trying to find a more flexible approach to raising their kids.

“Even if you’re not going to start a business, you might be putting money aside in shares or investments to create a nest egg so you can spend a little bit more time with your children, and that’s going to be impacted too.”

The Albanese government has worked to sell itself as a pioneer for gender equality as the first majority-female government.

It has also pitched the federal budget as an intergenerational equity measure designed to help young people — but Ms Trusler said the opposite was true.

“If you’re a young woman in Australia now, you’ve got less choices to look after your children in the future,” she said.

“The government’s saying, take a salaried job, and we’re going to disincentivise you to do anything else that allows you to stay at home with your children.”

Budget makes career path ‘harder’ for women

Ms Trusler’s comments came after a group of 10 female business owners, led by The Mint Partners founder Genevieve Taubman, released a joint statement on Thursday warning the CGT change would “risk discouraging the next generation of women from starting businesses at all”.

“It is already harder for women to access capital, secure loans, raise investment, and attract senior talent,” the statement said.

“Many female founders begin with fewer resources, smaller networks, and more family responsibilities than their male counterparts. The proposed CGT changes would make an already difficult path even harder.”

The women also sent a direct message to Paul Keating after the former Labor prime minister and mentor of Mr Chalmers criticised “wealthy people” for opposing the changes.

“We were disappointed by Mr Keating’s comments this morning suggesting that those concerned about these changes are John Howard’s ‘used-car selling and dodgy-accounting mates,’” they said.

“That characterisation is dismissive and out of touch with the reality of modern Australian business ownership.”

A group of 40 business founders aged under 40 also lobbied Mr Albanese directly with an open letter against the changes.

Mr Albanese and Mr Chalmers have both defended the CGT reform, but their answers have been labelled confusing and “illogical”, with the Treasurer claiming he removed the discount for shares because they had been “under-compensated” compared with property.

The Albanese government also appeared to underestimate the number of young Australians who own shares by nearly half, with ASIC figures contradicting the Treasurer’s claims.