Page 3534 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 12 September 2017
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time. I have noticed that some of the original questions being asked by members over recent weeks have been preceded by a somewhat lengthy preamble. I would like to remind members of standing order 117(a), which states that “questions shall be brief and relate to a single issue”. I have also observed that some supplementary questions have several facets to the question, and I remind members that standing order 113B stipulates that “immediately following the answer to a question, one supplementary question may be asked”. I would ask that members bear these standing orders in mind when they are framing their questions.
Questions without notice
Taxation—reform
MR COE: My question is to the Chief Minister and Treasurer. Former Chief Minister Jon Stanhope said in a recent piece:
Canberrans believed at the time that the tax reform began that they had a deal with the government. Many people, having recently received their latest rates bill, are legitimately asking whether the government has kept its end of the bargain.
Why has your government not kept its end of the bargain on tax reform?
MR BARR: We certainly have kept our end of the bargain, with a particular emphasis on reducing those inefficient and unfair taxes that were part of the ACT tax system throughout the era of self-government, including the Stanhope government, I note. Our commitment was to abolish insurance taxes, which we have done. Our commitment was to reduce payroll taxes, which we have done by increasing the payroll tax-free threshold to the nation’s highest amount, $2 million. And our commitment was to reduce stamp duty over a 20-year period. The rate of stamp duty has fallen both in the commercial stamp duty area and in residential stamp duty. The counterfactual position would be that we would have just left all of the tax rates unchanged. In that case, stamp duty would have gone up by between 20 per cent and 30 per cent, which would be consistent with what has happened in New South Wales and Victoria, and rates would have gone up as well.
MR COE: Chief Minister, are the increases in rates and land tax simply going to be passed on to renters and drive up the cost of living even more in the ACT?
MR BARR: The various costs associated with renting out a property are tax deductible in the federal tax system. The costs can be claimed back in relation to the income earned on the property under the Australian taxation system.
MRS DUNNE: Treasurer, why has your tax reform process resulted in housing becoming more unaffordable due to significant increases in rates?
MR BARR: The measures of housing affordability as put out by the Real Estate Institute of Australia show that the ACT is the most affordable jurisdiction, that the percentage of income required for rent and mortgages is lower—
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