Thursday, 21 March 2024

Land tax

Jess WILSON (Kew) (17:34): (609) My adjournment is for the Treasurer, and the action I am seeking is for the Treasurer to provide land tax relief for Victorians in the upcoming budget. Around this time last year, I sought the same action from the Treasurer after so many Victorians reached out to me to share their distress at the massive spike in their land tax bills. Unfortunately, the Treasurer did not heed my call. In fact he actually did the exact opposite, hiking land tax rates yet again at a time when Victorians can least afford to pay for them. Yet again we have seen this government punish Victorians for Labor’s financial incompetence with crippling tax burdens. Property is a common investment vehicle for Australians from all walks of life. It is by no means the preserve of the ultrarich. In fact it is not uncommon for Victorians to hold the vast majority of their wealth in a single property investment. According to ATO data, 72 per cent of Australians who invest in real estate own only one investment property. The majority of these investors have an income of less than $100,000 a year.

But it is not just individuals who bear the burden of Labor’s ongoing land tax hikes. Businesses across Victoria are feeling the pinch. I have heard from business owners whose land tax bills have nearly doubled. This additional impost on business along with Labor’s payroll taxes, which are among the highest in the country, and WorkCover premium hikes are putting Victorian jobs at risk. Victorian businesses are really starting to question why you would continue to do business in this state. Other states are knocking on their doors, inviting them to move over the border to enjoy the business-friendly conditions in those states. Businesses are not the magic goose that can continue to lay the golden eggs for Labor by keeping Victorians gainfully employed despite the worst economic conditions in this state since the Cain–Kirner era. At some point the music will have to stop and so will Labor’s merry-go-round of taxing and spending while Victorians struggle to pay bills and make ends meet.

Of course as I have made the point time and time again in this place, land tax is a tax on rent. When land tax bills triple in the space of two years, as some Victorians have experienced this year, the Treasurer is living in la-la land if he thinks these tax hikes are not driving Victoria’s rental increases. Rents are at record price highs while rental properties are at record lows in terms of availability in Victoria. The Labor government’s addiction to property taxes is exacerbating the rental crisis in this state. As I pointed out in my first speech in this place, 42 per cent of the state’s total taxation comes from land tax and stamp duty alone. This is not what a healthy budget with diverse revenue sources should look like. Labor must end its property tax addiction now and stop punishing Victorians for their fiscal incompetence. Once again, I call on this government to offer land tax relief in their upcoming budget.