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Could a tax against empty homes help end Australia's housing crisis? (www.abc.net.au)
submitted 3 years ago by to c/australia@aussie.zone
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My first instinct is "yes" but then I thought about it and I think it's just going to exacerbate the short-stay problem unless combined with other measures.

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[–] 3 points 3 years ago (3 children)

The people at prosper have put some thought into this. https://www.prosper.org.au/campaigns/stamp-duty-to-land-tax/ there scheme allows the elderly to defer the tax until sale which prevents them from being forced to sale but still incentivises it.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 years ago (2 children)

    I didn't realise that the idea was to replace Stamp Duty with land tax. The biggest hurdle I see with that idea is that Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia^*^ have all privatised their land registries. Stamp Duty now goes to private companies and not the state governments. They can't simply replace stamp duty with a land tax.

    ^*^WA han't totally privatised their Land registrar, but the process of collecting Stamp Duty is private and the proceeds of a land transfer don't go to the government.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 years ago

    As bad as privatising land registries as it's not like the 6% stamp duty you pay is going to the land registry. There's probably a nominal fee that these land registries are getting on each lookup and transfer.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 years ago*

    Stamp Duty now goes to private companies and not the state governments

    WTF? When you buy a home, the $40,000 Stamp Duty does not go to the company running the land registry. It absolutely goes to the government.

    Maybe the company gets fifty bucks or something. They're not getting $40k.

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