Page 2659 - Week 08 - Thursday, 14 August 2014
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MR HANSON (Molonglo—Leader of the Opposition) (8.34): Madam Deputy Speaker, I just heard Mr Rattenbury talking about this in the context of the government’s tax reform, what a great thing it was and how that was going to be able to reform the tax system. In the context of this debate, I would like to briefly read an email that I received at 6.00 pm this evening about this issue. It follows on from some of the debate earlier today. It reflects the concerns of a lot of people that are coming to us. It is from a gentleman called Norm. I will not give the rest of his details. It states:
Following on re Rates Notice, today I paid $4,100.42 (the discounted amount for payment by 15 August 2014); the amount for payment by instalments for year 2014 was $4,227.24.
He then goes on:
$2,571.17 was the amount we paid for year 2012. Our very real concern is that we are retirees on pretty much a fixed income, and when I see in my small Comsuper Pension indexed at something like a 2.5% or so annual increase it is clearly a tax grab by the ACT government. Ongoing costs like that will inevitably force people out of their homes which is disgraceful.
Thank you for taking time to respond.
Yours faithfully.
MR WALL (Brindabella) (8.35): This is an issue on which I asked the Treasurer a number of questions during a recall day at estimates. The scenario that I pitched to the Treasurer was of a constituent of mine who has an investment property down in Tuggeranong. The unimproved capital value of the property in the apartment complex is about $100,000. The changes that this bill proposes to make to their land tax liability is an increase of $700 per year. This unit rents out for about $345 a week. That equates to almost a $14 a week increase in rent.
It is plain and simple to see what this does. To call it by any other name other than a tax on affordable housing in this city would be a travesty. It has been likened to a poll tax but it is punishing Canberra families who seek to better themselves by investing in the city that they live in. Sometimes it is going to affect investors from interstate but they should be encouraged, not punished.
It is taxing people that want to invest in our city—people that want to invest to provide housing, often at the affordable end. The members opposite in the government, in the Labor Party, always fight for and claim to stand up for the working class in this city. But this is a tax that is going to hurt working families hardest, those that are not necessarily able to purchase their own homes, but who are renting often at the more affordable end in a townhouse or in an apartment.
I think that to call this anything other than a tax on affordable housing is simply not being honest. Mr Rattenbury, again, sided with the government on this issue. He claimed that it is, in fact, an equitable change. That is really something quite bizarre coming from the Greens: “Let us make it harder for people to afford housing.” I do
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