Page 2225 - Week 06 - Thursday, 6 June 2019
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MR BARR: If you mean specifically deferments, I believe that that number is in the low hundreds, but I will get that checked. Obviously, it changes. It has increased in recent times as people have become more aware of that option—that it is available. It is a very sensible and rational option that, when I reach that age, I will certainly be taking up.
MRS DUNNE: Treasurer, how many households are expected to be pushed into financial hardship because of your changes in rates, taxes, fees and charges in 2019-20?
MR BARR: None.
MS CHEYNE: Chief Minister, how many households are going to benefit from changes to stamp duty this year?
MR BARR: Everyone who buys a house in Canberra and has bought a house over the last seven years has benefited—some to the tune of up to $25,000 and soon to be even more. Every single person who has bought a property in Canberra has paid less stamp duty in recent years. That means they are not paying mortgage interest if they had to borrow for that stamp duty and it also means that more property is more affordable for Canberrans.
That stands in marked contrast to what has been occurring in other jurisdictions where the stamp duty that is being charged, particularly in New South Wales and to a lesser extent in Victoria, has been astronomical. Billions and billions of dollars have rolled in to the New South Wales government, to the point that they were embarrassed by how much money they were gouging out of homebuyers and they had to do something about it. We have seen, in the property market collapse in Sydney, that their stamp duties are now starting to tank, and that is causing them a great deal of difficulty in budgeting for the long term.
The other side of this equation is that when you are in government and you have responsibility to deliver services for people, you have to do it every year. You cannot just guess how many houses and at what value they will transact and try and set long-term budgeting on that basis.
One of the advantages of the tax mix shift is more predictability and stability in revenue, which allows for better long-term service delivery planning. That is an important element as well. It is fair because everyone who consumes services every year contributes. In what world is it fair that we ask people who buy a house to pay so much—25 per cent—of our own-source revenue? How is that fair? If you were designing a tax system from scratch, you would not do that. (Time expired.)
Housing—rental
MR PARTON: My question is to the Minister for Housing and Suburban Development. Minister, the most recent ACT Council of Social Service cost of living report indicated that rents in Canberra have increased by three per cent whereas nationally they have only increased by half a per cent. Why is this?
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