Stamp duty roller-coaster must endWhile the ACT Chief Minister says conveyancing stamp duty will “remain part of our tax system for a considerable time to come”, the Property Council of Australia says the stamp duty ‘roller-coaster’ must end.”The Property Council has to date supported the ACT Government’s tax reform program, specifically the government’s intention to ‘abolish conveyance duty over a 20-year period’ as outlined in the 2012 Budget, because stamp duty is an unreliable and inefficient roller-coaster of a tax,” says the Property Council’s ACT Executive Director, Catherine Carter.”The federal government’s recent tax discussion paper and the Henry Tax Review have both identified stamp duty as the tax with highest costs to economic growth and living standards. “Stamp duty revenues are unpredictable from year to year, and modelling from the federal Treasury finds that Australia’s economic welfare is reduced by 73 cents for every dollar of stamp duty collected.”While we’ve supported the ACT Government’s commitment to taxation reform, the Chief Minister is now reneging on a promise made to the Canberra community to make property taxes fairer, more equitable and more efficient by ultimately abolishing stamp duty entirely.”Residential and commercial property owners have been repeatedly told that rates increases will be compensated by the gradual abolition of stamp duty.”Commercial property rates increased by 14 per cent in some parts of the CBD last financial year, and by 27.5 per cent the year before that. These rapid increases have not corresponded with similar adjustments in stamp duty,” Ms Carter says.”What we now have is a situation where commercial rates have skyrocketed, but the stamp duty thresholds are largely unchanged,” Ms Carter concludes.Media contact: Catherine Carter |M 0412 330 079|P 02 6248 6602
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