NSW families deserve stamp duty cuts for Christmas

NSW families deserve stamp duty cuts for ChristmasNSW Treasurer Gladys Berejiklian should end 2016 with the giving spirit of Christmas and announce stamp duty cuts to reduce the cost of housing and improve affordability for families across the State.”Christmas is a time for giving and the NSW government should share some of the benefits of the State’s strong fiscal position with home buyers across NSW,” NSW Executive Director Jane Fitzgerald said today.”Last week, the Treasurer said she is open to the prospect of cutting stamp duty. Let’s make that a concrete commitment before Christmas – stamp duty reform should be a 2017 priority for the NSW Government.”In NSW, the government collects more than $40,000 in stamp duty from a typical Sydney property. Twenty years ago, it collected $4,685 from the same property – that’s a 7 per cent increase.”Over the past five years, revenue for property based stamp duty in NSW has doubled, from around four billion dollars to over eight billion dollars.”And this is all occurring as house prices in this state have sky rocketed putting additional cost of living pressure on families and young people across the state.”The current government schemes in place that are supposed to provide stamp duty relief for people trying to get a foot into the property market are poorly designed and not suited to current market conditions.”First homebuyers can get an exemption from stamp duty – but only on properties valued up to $5,000 – all but useless when the median price for a home in Sydney is around $800,000.”By providing tax cuts and encouraging people to buy new stock, we can boost housing supply which is incredibly important in a softening residential market. This also encourages greater economic growth in other areas such as services and retail.”The people and industries of NSW have worked hard to deliver this government a sizeable surplus just in time for Christmas, the government should give a little back.”Media contact:William Power|M 0429 210 982 | [email protected]