Property Council Calls For Stamp Duty Reforms

A year on from the Queensland Election, the confidence of the State’s property industry has stagnated, highlighting the need to change the tax system, according to the Property Council.

The ANZ/Property Council industry confidence survey released this week showed Queensland has a confidence level trailing New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania.

Queensland Executive Director of the Property Council, Chris Mountford, said the result had put the State in the middle of the pack, well short of what is needed to generate greater economic activity and job creation.

Industry expectations of Queensland’s residential capital growth have dropped by 20 points over the last twelve months, declining every quarter in 2015.

“Declining residential confidence should be a very loud warning bell for the Queensland Government, who are banking on a $3 billion stamp duty windfall this financial year,” Mr Mountford said.

“Reliance on inefficient and highly volatile taxes like stamp duty not only puts the Budget bottom line at risk, but also hurts the whole economy.”

A Deloitte Access Economics report released in December confirmed that replacing stamp duty with a more efficient tax would increase the size of the Australian economy by $3.3 billion.

“With the significant slowdown in the resources sector, Queensland has no choice but to get the policy settings right to let the property industry grow the economy,” Mr Mountford said.

“To boost industry confidence, the Queensland Government needs to make 2016 their year of implementation.”

“If the Government can pass their new planning legislation and deliver integrated and meaningful regional land-use and infrastructure plans, they will send a strong message to industry that Queensland is open for business.”

“2016 will be a watershed year for Australia’s tax system – the local industry needs the Queensland Government to not only get our domestic policy settings right this year, but also be a strong voice to end the reliance on inefficient taxes.”