Mr. Tim Pallas, the Victorian Treasurer, has backed the need for tax reform, including the need to ditch stamp duty. These comments align with similar comments made by the New South Wales Treasurer Mr. Dominic Perrottet.

Victorian government advisers have been pushing to replace stamp duty with a land tax as part of sweeping fiscal reforms brought on by coronavirus shutdowns.

Mr. Perrottet stated that stamp duties are an inefficient way for States to generate revenue, and that land tax would better allow States to generate revenue while also easing housing affordability concerns during the recovery from COVID-19.

The Property Council of Australia supports this change, but did note that the details of the reform will ultimately determine how effective the change is. Mr. Ken Morrison, Chief Executive of the Property Council, pointed out that in the past, the ACT has claimed to have swapped stamp duty for land tax, but in reality had only decreased stamp duty revenue by 1.1 percent while raising land tax. Mr. Morrison also claimed that for every $1 raised via stamp duty, there is 80 cents of economic harm caused.

On the surface, tax reform is a good thing. But we need to ensure that the States aren’t disguising tax increases as tax reform