Tuesday, 30 April 2024

Land tax

Joe McCRACKEN (Western Victoria) (18:58): (844) My adjournment matter is for the Treasurer, or as some are calling him, the minister for being broke in Victoria – because that is what we are. It relates to land tax and the problems that are associated with land tax here in Victoria. The action that I seek is for the Treasurer to establish an inquiry into land tax, especially the impacts on regional Victorians.

I have spoken to many people about land tax. In fact, it is probably one of the most significant issues that people come to my office about. I had one developer contact me recently saying that this is the first time that they have ever had to borrow money to pay their land tax bill. The first time that they have had to borrow money because they could not afford to pay their land tax bill out of cash reserves or incoming revenue – that is a complete disgrace, and the government should be ashamed of it.

I have also had many property owners forced to sell their properties because they cannot afford to maintain their land tax obligations due to the properties that they own. One constituent of mine said that his bill was $20,000 a week, and for the assets that he owned, most of the percentage of those assets was owned by the bank. So you can imagine the imposition that land tax has on someone who is renting out properties to people that by all means are actually struggling.

Think about what land tax actually does to the economy. It forces higher prices in rents because it increases the costs of property owners. They have to pass them on, and if they cannot pass them on, they sell the property, which is actually what is happening. When you take more properties out of the market, what happens? It is called demand and supply, and when you have got less supply, prices go up. It is economics 101. I used to teach my year 12 students that sort of stuff. I wish someone would teach the government that sort of stuff as well, because clearly they do not understand the impact of their negative land tax implications on Victorians. We are seeing the impacts of that with the rise in homelessness and people struggling to find accommodation. It is just so unfair. So make sure that the Treasurer actually listens so that an inquiry can be established to find out from people – real people – what the impact of land tax is, because I can tell you, from my humble experience, it is not a good one.