Page 2503 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 9 August 2016
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8.6 per cent. Over the same period, wages have gone up by between two and three per cent. In Aranda, in my electorate, rates have increased by over 69 per cent. Even in suburbs like Charnwood and further west, rates have gone up by 41 per cent. There are not many people in Charnwood whose income has gone up by 41 per cent since 2012.
Notices are already in the mail to ratepayers. Already the residents of Charnwood, Aranda and every suburb in between are reeling at the impact that this will have on their household budgets. And this so-called rates breather is not much of a respite at all, for the familiar old increases will return with a vengeance next year. Next year, they will be running breathlessly with a seven per cent increase. We have seen rates increase by much more than either wages or inflation since 2012. And there are significant numbers of Canberra residents who will pay even more.
This Labor-Greens coalition government has also announced plans to significantly increase the rates for people living in units. There is to be a 20 per cent increase for 2017-18 and a 15 per cent increase in 2018-19. This probably includes at least one retirement village in my electorate, in Burkitt Street in Page, where there are three retirement villages. These residents cannot even get a bus service for their street, and the bus shelters, which double as resting points for seniors on their daily walks, have been removed.
One self-funded retiree expressed his frustration in the Canberra Times recently, saying:
My rates have increased by 14.9 per cent in the last year. By contrast my superannuation income which is indexed according to the CPI has increased by 1.3 per cent.
To cap it off, literally as well as figuratively, some pensioners will have rebates capped at 2015-16 levels, meaning they will face hyper-increases in rates bills in future years. This just underscores the disdain Mr Barr and the Labor-Greens coalition government hold for senior residents in this city.
We in Canberra must be very wicked people, because there will be no rest for any of us for at least another 16 years. This Labor-Greens coalition government’s plan to increase rates by more than CPI or wages growth will stretch out until at least 2032. Residents who are looking for real rates breathers should vote for the Canberra Liberals in October.
When the so-called “tax reform” project was introduced in 2012, the plan was to phase out stamp duty on conveyancing by increasing rates. If we look at budget paper 3, we see that revenue from residential conveyancing is forecast to grow from $182 million last financial year to $213 million in 2019-20. Residential rates revenue is forecast to increase from $273 million to $371 million. Indeed, stamp duty for more expensive homes is still higher than it is in New South Wales and will continue to be for at least two more years.
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