Labor ups ante on land tax

LABOR would abolish land tax on all properties below $100,000 and deliver big cuts to most property owners, leader Rebecca White announced on Thursday.

She said Labor’s plan to reduce land tax would place downward pressure on rent while helping out landlords and shack owners,” she said.

The policy would apply to 60,000 land tax accounts who would have their tax abolished altogether and 150,000 land tax accounts receiving cuts between $450 and $2300 per year.

“A majority Labor government will deliver big land tax cuts for all land taxpayers with holdings of up to $3m,” Ms White said.

“These cuts will have a focus on shack owners, ‘mum and dad’ investors and landlords in the lower and middle tiers of the rental market.

“The cuts will ease the cost of living pressures on small land owners and provide incentives for medium-scale property investors to cap or reduce rental increases.”

Labor’s treasury spokesman David O’Byrne said the plan would abolish land tax at $100,000 and below and cuts will vary between 60 per cent for properties valued at between $100,000 and $150,000 and 20 per cent for properties valued between $500,000 and $1m.

“Labor’s land tax cuts are up to four times greater than those announced by the Liberals and Peter Gutwein,” Mr O’Byrne said.

But the party’s costing ran into scepticism from Premier Peter Gutwein, saying it went further than the Liberals’ policy to cut or abolish land tax for 74,000 Tasmanians which has been costed Treasury at $14.6m – somehow cost less.

“Labor’s land tax policy announced today states that 60,000 taxpayers will pay no land tax and provides significant tax cuts to those who do pay.

“Labor claims this will cost $7.5 million. How can this be?”

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