ACT looks at conveyance duties

May 7th, 2012

FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda

The ACT government will consider abolishing conveyance duties for property transfers but says any changes would be phased in over the long term.

The government has released a review of its taxation base conducted by former treasurer Ted Quinlan, economist Alan Duncan and ACT Under Treasurer Megan Smithies.

It accepted 15 recommendations, agreed in principle to 14, noted one and rejected one.

The Quinlan panel found the ACT was one of the lowest taxing jurisdictions in Australia, with an economy largely dependent on land supply and the construction industry.

It said the conveyance duty was “the most unstable and unpredictable tax” and “fundamentally unfair” since it raised about a quarter of all tax revenue from about nine per cent of the population.

It recommended abolishing the duty over a 10- to 20-year transition period.

The government, which released the review on Monday, agreed in principle but said any change would need to be over the very long term so it didn’t create distortions in the market.

The panel also recommended the government abolish residential land tax in its current form.

Instead, it should adopt the “site value” of land as the valuation basis for determining rates, land tax and lease variation charges.

The change would exclude improvements on the land (such as buildings) but include improvements to the land (such as clearing, filling or levelling).

The government agreed to this in principle.

It also agreed to work towards national harmonisation of payroll tax and abolish duties on general and life insurance.

But it rejected Mr Quinlan’s recommendation that the Canberra Casino be allowed to install poker machines.

The casino has lobbied for more than a decade to be allowed to buy poker machine licences, which are confined to community clubs under territory law.

In its response to the tax review, the government said the casino licence was granted in the early 1990s on the basis it would not operate pokies.

The government noted a recommendation to increase taxes on poker machines but is unlikely to take up the measure.

It said it would be unreasonable to change the taxes until a federal government trial of mandatory precommitment technology on poker machines was done.

Treasurer Andrew Barr will hold a series of roundtable discussions to hear community views on the recommendations and has invited Canberrans to email him their ideas.