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The Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) has welcomed the Liberal Nationals’ commitment to removing a planned stamp duty tax increase, should it win government at the state’s next election in 2022.
Real estate tax is easy pickings for lazy politicians
Property: it’s an easy target for increased taxation at a time when governments face insatiable demand for services but slower growth in the traditional tax bases.
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One of the curious aspects of the Victorian government’s latest property tax proposals is the amount of money Treasurer Tim Pallas estimates the new windfall gains tax will actually raise.
The estimation – $40 million a year, according to the government’s release – seems low for a tax that aims to reclaim half of the valuation upside from most major rezonings.
Owners, and their tenants, contributed more than $35 billion in stamp duty, land tax and other state government charges in 2018-19, a figure around 50 per cent of state government revenue.
Property hit by $2.7b tax austerity plan in Victoria
May 16, 2021 â 11.00pm
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The property sector is locked in last-minute crisis talks with key Victorian cross-benchers in an effort to block or revise a $2.7 billion property tax slug to be unveiled in Thursdayâs state budget.
Economists have blasted the Andrews government for doubling down on stamp duty, the countryâs worst tax, even after the NSW and Victorian treasurers agreed last year to look at ways to scrap the levy to help tackle the housing affordability crisis.
Homebuyers Jess and Andrew Johnson will be impacted by the stamp duty rise in the Victorian Budget.Â
Advertisement Victoriaâs building industry took a $370 million hit last year as the COVID-19 crisis locked international students out of Australia, causing cash-strapped universities to stop building, and apartment projects to stall.
The Property Council of Australia said the knock-on effects from the absence of overseas students had cost the stateâs economy more than $1 billion and kept 13,000 Victorians out of work.
Raymond Mah of DKO Architects says the student accommodation building business has dried up.
Credit:Jason South
The Master Builders Association of Victoria has added its voice to calls from business, the education sector and local government for the state and Commonwealth to find a way to get Victoriaâs $13 billion international education trade moving again, saying its absence is hurting the economy.