Thursday, 18 May 2023

Stamp duty

Jess WILSON (Kew) (17:09): (185) My adjournment tonight is for the Treasurer, and the action I am seeking is for the Treasurer to provide further stamp duty relief to first home buyers in the budget next week. I was pleased to read in the media earlier this week that there has been some exploration of alternative revenue options to stamp duty. Sadly, I think the Premier has told the Treasurer this will not be happening. Of course we know that the Premier does not care about home ownership; it is no big deal to him. He claims Victorians just want to rent. On this side of the house, however, we know that young Victorians want to own their own home.

Stamp duty is a deeply unpopular tax among taxpayers and economists alike, and for good reason. It is an inefficient, distortionary tax, and its greatest impact is felt by those who have yet to break into the property market, principally young first home buyers. Its impact on housing affordability or lack thereof in this state is undeniable, and yet this government is not doing anything to fix it; in fact they are doing the opposite. In the 2021–22 budget the Andrews government raised stamp duty, and last year alone the Andrews government taxed $10.4 billion in stamp duty, up from $4.9 billion in the 2014–15 budget – a more than 100 per cent increase in the tax take. This government has introduced 20 new or increased property taxes, and with property taxes making up around half of the state’s revenue – stamp duty alone contributing over a third – this government’s addiction to property taxes is driving the housing affordability crisis and robbing young Victorians of their chance to own their own home. The Grattan Institute research shows that Victoria’s reliance on stamp duty is costing the economy up to $5 billion a year, while the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry estimates that 340,000 property transactions are forgone annually because of stamp duty.

It is clear that stamp duty is acting as a handbrake on the availability of housing stock in this state, particularly in Melbourne. I call on the Treasurer to provide stamp duty relief for first home buyers in the upcoming budget. Currently Victorian first home buyers are only fully exempt from paying stamp duty on properties sold for less than $600,000, with concessional stamp duty payable to $750,000. But the median house price for a home in Melbourne is $956,000, meaning that many first home buyers miss out on any stamp duty relief. Stamp duty on the median house price for a Melbourne home is currently around $52,000. After making so many sacrifices to scrape together a deposit, first home buyers need to save tens of thousands of dollars on top of that just to pay the government for the opportunity to own their own home.

Prior to the 2022 state election we committed on this side of the house to removing stamp duty for first home buyers for properties valued up to $1 million. This better reflects the property market in Victoria and provides first home buyers with hope. We simply cannot afford to deny young Victorians the opportunity to own their own slice of this great state any longer, and I call on the Treasurer to break Labor’s addiction to property taxes.