Page 1492 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 10 April 2013
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It is a problem when you start to believe your own rhetoric. According to the minister, this is the perfect tax. Remember, this was Minister Gallagher’s tax when she was the Treasurer. This is the perfect tax—it has no effect on sales, it has no effect on purchases and it has no effect on rents. On that basis, “We’ll make it a bigger tax.” Well, go for your life, because it is never going to raise the level of moneys predicted simply because it does have an effect, simply because somebody at some stage must pay for this tax.
I am sure there are a lot of philanthropic developers out there, but they are not going to be able to carry this. If you want to keep your business afloat, you cannot keep carrying the government’s taxation; you must pass it on. It is either passed on to those that sell in that they get less for the land or those that purchase pay more for the property. It is then passed on and damages housing affordability in the territory, which all profess to be interested in. But what we have done through the lease variation tax is put a tax on housing affordability.
The government’s stated aim in its planning documents is that, in future, 50 per cent of development will be urban infill. What do you do as your first action when you say that you want to have urban infill? You put a tax on it. The Treasurer quite rightly said in estimates not so long ago that every tax has a drag. Every tax has an effect. And, yes, it does, even this perfect tax that former Treasurer Gallagher designed. It definitely has a drag. You can see it has a drag because, as a consequence of this taxation regime, we have a quote from the Treasurer:
Our Urban Improvement program is in arrears.
And that is true. It is in arrears because they are not getting the $20 million-odd that they expected they would get every year; they are getting far less than that.
Mr Barr: You left out the word “funded”, didn’t you?
MR SMYTH: Sorry?
Mr Barr: You left out the word “funded” from that quote, didn’t you?
MR SMYTH: No, I did not:
Our Urban Improvement program is in arrears.
Mr Barr: It is “funded” in arrears.
MR SMYTH: It does not say that. No, I am reading your quote. If you have got a problem with the quote, you should talk to the Canberra Times. It is your quote.
Mr Barr: No-one has ever been misquoted by the Canberra Times.
MR SMYTH: Well, did you complain, minister? I mean, it stands. It is your quote, mate. If you cannot get them to get it right, that is your problem.
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