Location: Dubai UAE
Off topic of the Overland, but when has that stopped a thread in RP.Land tax is actually a tax on capital stock (as opposed to capital flow for stamp duty) so would do what your suggesting. Its also unable to escape the country, so represents a very low flight risk.I'd go even further and say that because labour's share of GDP is declining rapidly we should shift the taxation system from taxing labour to taxing capital, especially speculative capital. CGT on real estate capital gains badly needs to be increased, although by the looks of the Aussie property market we've missed the window of opportunity for the time being.Victoria is the most reliant out of all the states on stamp duty, collecting a shade over six billion from it last financial year. So far this year the number of settled sales is down 15.8% in Melbourne alone and the fall in Melbourne prices will substantially reduce the tax take because it's a progressive tax. So they're already projected to be down a billion dollars - where will that money come from?Precisely why we need a broad based land tax instead. To decouple states reliance on stamp duty that impacts policy choices. If they have to focus on improving land values, then that is going to lead a whole lot of other policy outcomes like increasing the productivity of that land.
I'd suggest that The Overland is a good place to start cutting.
Id say taking away most of the capital gains concession and means testing the primary residence exemption (and/or making the amount over the mean house price taxable and the amount below the mean tax free) would go a long way to this.
Landtax on unimproved value, only. Sorry I lived in Tassie to have some jokers from local council walking through your house and yard every few years ticking if you built a BBQ, painted the house revamped the bathroom then telling me my house is worth 33% more than it sold for after 18mths on the market the following year is a joke. The whole process is a job creating exercise sucking tax from the taxpayer.
The states need to move away from market driven tax revenue, thus disconnecting themselves from boom and bust as much as possible, drop all the "duty taxes" as they themselves are also a joke, taking insurance polices, wages, buying and selling of items like houses, shares, cars, boats etc. Keep it simple, tax the fixed asset, like land as mentioned by others. Taxes are set by size and value per m2, adjusted for inflation and every decade adjusted for market changes in various areas. Simple, guaranteed income.
