Page 5480 - Week 17 - Wednesday, 4 December 1991
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
RATES AND LAND TAX (AMENDMENT) BILL (NO. 4) 1991
MR COLLAERY (10.51): I present the Rates and Land Tax (Amendment) Bill (No. 4) 1991. I move:
That this Bill be agreed to in principle.
This amendment seeks to repeal that part of the Rates and Land Tax (Amendment) Act (No. 3) 1991 which took effect upon notification in the Gazette on 2 October 1991. The Bill does not purport to amend provisions that are not germane to the purpose of making residential properties exempt from land tax. Clause 7 of the Bill repeals, as a consequential measure, section 10 of the Rates and Land Tax (Amendment) Act (No. 3) 1991, which dealt with liability for land tax during the year 1991-92 as a consequence of the amendments made to that Act.
I stress that this Bill now being presented is not expressed to apply retrospectively from 2 October 1991, the date the Rates and Land Tax (Amendment) Act (No. 3) 1991 took effect. This avoids any suggestion that, contrary to subsection 65(1) of the Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988 of the Commonwealth and to standing order 200 of this Assembly, the Bill might have the effect of charging public money of the Territory. The amendment therefore amends the principal legislation, namely, the Rates and Land Tax Act 1926, which has traditionally exempted residential properties from the incidence of land tax.
When the Rates and Land Tax (Amendment) Bill (No. 3) was passed in this Assembly some weeks ago, it secured passage against the opposition of the Residents Rally. When the Government first proposed the land tax the Rally consistently called for full public consultation. We posed questions in question time about unintended effects and we called for an examination of those unintended effects, particularly those on tenants, both by way of rent increases and by the effect on the rental market by way of vacancy rates.
We remind the Follett Government that when the Queensland Government recently introduced a land tax on commercial landlords it introduced correlative legislation to prevent the tax passing on to tenants. Regrettably, the Follett Government did not introduce in its legislation any amendments to cushion the effect of its land tax on residential tenants. Despite this, the Government pressed ahead with the amendment. Regrettably, the Rally's caution on this matter has been proven correct. There have been complaints that there is no pro rata relief, so that landlords are required to pay the complete sum for a broken period.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .