Page 2976 - Week 10 - Thursday, 16 August 1990
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MR HUMPHRIES: I do not know what the approved numbers are. If Mrs Grassby would like the information about that, I will take that part of the question on notice.
MRS GRASSBY: I have a supplementary question. If the Minister adds his figures he will see that they do not quite add up. Could he take it on notice and give us the exact figures?
MR HUMPHRIES: As I said, the figures are approximately right. I can see that there is an error in them. I will produce those figures for Mrs Grassby at the earliest possible convenience.
Leasehold System
MR MOORE: My question is directed to the Chief Minister, but I will be happy for the Deputy Chief Minister to answer it because I know of his past interest in the leasehold system. I refer to an article by Philip Hobbs in this morning's Canberra Times, and I will take a couple of quotes from it. The article is entitled "Lease loophole stings taxpayers". It states:
Lessees paying out their leases were paying interest effectively of only 10 per cent and, at the same time, reaping considerable capital gains.
A couple of paragraphs further down it states:
The Alliance was announcing the changes well in advance of their introduction so that lessees could take advantage of the change and pay out leases before the new rules applied.
Clearly, any astute business person will now move rapidly to reap the considerable capital gains. Estimates that I have been able to get this morning show that this early notice should mean a loss of revenue to the ACT of between $1m and $2m - enough to keep our schools open.
Is this announcement simply a further incompetent economic decision on the part of the Government, or is it a case of deliberately handing millions of dollars to specific businesses rather than injecting the money into areas such as education?
MR COLLAERY: I thank Mr Moore for the question. I think that is a proper question to ask the Chief Minister, and I ask that it be placed on notice.
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