Page 2408 - Week 08 - Thursday, 6 June 2013
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40 per cent. That is a 40 per cent increase after this Chief Minister assured the people of Canberra that big rate rises were just a Liberal scare campaign. It has been said also that we claimed that these reforms would happen within a year, within a term of government. The truth is that at the last election we circulated a table sourced from the government’s own tax review showing that rates would triple in about 10 years. We published tens of thousands of letters, thousands of brochures and flyers and hundreds of TV ads showing the table that showed rates tripling in 10 years. That table was then the very basis of Labor’s attack against our claims. So to deny now that that was the basis of what we said is to compound your real deceit with an outrageous denial.
But still the government told the people of Canberra that it was all a lie; that rates would not triple as a result of their reforms and that the increases warned of by the Liberals and included in the 10-year table were false and would not happen for decades. Under the projections put forward in this budget, it will not take 10 years to triple; we were wrong. It is just over 11. That is the truth of this. This government was not honest when it tried to hide the increases necessary to make this reform work. The Chief Minister assured and kept assuring that this is not happening, even when it is happening right before everybody’s eyes.
Madam Speaker, I urge the government to tell the truth. Tell us the truth about how much rates have to increase to remove the stamp duty, and tell the truth about when these increases will occur. I challenge the Treasurer to publish his modelling. It is inconceivable that this is the only government in any jurisdiction on any tax reform that did not do any modelling. Where is it? And the fact they still refuse to publish it is a damning indictment.
I challenge the Treasurer—have the courage of your convictions, be up-front about what you intend to do, and table your modelling. Then we will see how fair these reforms really are. Is it fair to ask those people who have already paid stamp duty to pay stamp duty again, and again, and again? Is it fair to the couple who bought their home in the 60s or 70s or 80s or maybe a couple of years ago and who paid their fair share and worked hard to pay off their house to be asked to pay an extra $3000, $4000, $5000 a year every year? Is it fair that those people who cannot pay to have their debt racked up against that house and then deducted when they die like a death duty? Is it fair for the struggling small business owners in this town who have seen commercial rates go up by over 30 per cent? Is it fair for the 90 per cent plus of people who do not move house to have their rates tripled to give some relief to those who do?
And is it fair when you compare Canberra to other places? Madam Speaker, if you live in a $3.5 million home in Double Bay, you will pay $1,873 in rates a year. But under Andrew Barr's reforms, if you live in a $700,000 house in Campbell, you will pay $3,031 in rates. Is that fair? If you live on six acres in Dural, you will pay $1,903 in rates. If you live on a 700-square meter block in Lyneham, you will pay $2,012. Is that fair? If you own a $1.7 million property in Mosman, you will pay $1,500 dollars in rates. But under these reforms, you will pay more than that if you own a home in Palmerston. Is that fair? I say to the Treasurer and I say to the Chief Minister, if you want a debate about the fairness of these rates rises, table your modelling and bring it on.
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