Stamp duty in crosshairs of new inquiry

VICTORIA’S parliament is set to conduct a review of stamp duty in the state as politicians called for change of the “inefficient and ineffective” tax.

Parliament’s Economy and Infrastructure Committee will review land transfer duty tax’s impacts on labour and effects on housing supply and development, while also examining potential alternatives by assessing other models from elsewhere in Australia and the world.

Crossbench and Opposition MPs agreeing that the tax negatively impacted housing affordability and accessibility, while having dubious economic benefits for the state’s bottom line.

Buyers presently face stamp duty costs upwards of $40,000 for purchase of a home at Geelong’s median house price of $780,000.

Liberal Democrats MP David Limbrick brought the motion to investigate tax reform to Parliament last month.

“Anything that we can do to make housing allocation more efficient and more accessible to more people I think everyone in this room agrees we need to do,” Mr Limbrick said.

“Everyone with knowledge about how stamp duty works agrees that it is a very inefficient way of doing it. “That is exactly what this inquiry is trying to do – look at some of the problems and look at some of the solutions and how we might get the ball rolling on tax reform.”

Greens leader Samantha Ratnam agreed, and said the “unfair” tax. “It can discourage people from moving closer to work or downsizing.

“Almost every economist and policymaker agrees that stamp duty is quite simply a bad tax that should be abolished as soon as possible.”

Speaking on behalf of the government, Labor MP Michael Galea stopped short of calling for abolition of stamp duty.

He pointed to measures the government has implemented to “lessen the burden of stamp duty on Victorians”, especially first home owners, and acknowledged the need for a “broader tax discussion” about how governments collect revenue.

The committee is due to finish its inquiry by the end of August.