Peter Gutwein MP
Shadow Treasurer
Monday 14 September, 2009
Land Tax reform
The Treasurer’s recent desperate attack on the Liberals’ Land Tax reforms is further evidence of how tired, stale and out of ideas this 11 year old Government has become.
Reducing Land Tax in Tasmania will stimulate the economy. Our plan is do this in an affordable and responsible way, costing $2.5 million a year over the next four years.
Land Tax must be reformed. According to recent IPA research, Tasmania has the second highest Land Tax burden of all Australian states. The research concludes that “measures to reduce Land Tax liabilities are necessary if Tasmania is to promote a more business-friendly environment.”
Even David Bartlett has opposed Tasmania’s current land tax regime saying, “…it could be argued that Tasmania’s Land Tax regime does not provide the most competitive, equitable or incentive based environment that it could”.
The Liberals are committed to backing small businesses to create jobs. We want to provide our business community with the most competitive business environment and create a more sustainable economy for the long-term.
That’s why in a responsible move, we announced that as a first step towards reforming Land Tax we would raise the threshold to $65,000. This will cost $2.5 million per year. That means that up to 19,000 properties in Tasmania would not have to pay Land Tax, an increase of over 14,000 on the Government’s policy.
We will pay for this by reducing Government spending by $2.5 million a year, including reducing the number of senior public servants by an additional 25.
Our plan is fully costed and fully funded.
Frontline services won’t be affected, but more Tasmanians will have more money to spend, and our business environment will be more competitive, which will help drive the Tasmanian economy forward.
The Government’s recent scaremongering on this responsible, affordable and business and jobs-friendly policy is sad, pathetic and desperate.
Peter Gutwein
