Victorians to pay the country’s most property taxes
Cassandra Morgan |
Victorians are expected to be slugged with the most property tax in the country this year and beyond, but NSW won’t be too far behind.
That’s the finding from a Victorian Parliamentary Budget Office report, which revealed the two states’ heavy reliance on property taxes.
Both the states generate substantially more revenue per person through stamp duty and land tax than other Australian jurisdictions.
Victoria is expected to have made the second most total revenue from property taxes of all Australian jurisdictions, behind NSW, in 2022-23, the budget office report showed.
Total property tax revenue for both Victoria and NSW is expected to be broadly similar from 2023-24 and beyond.
However, Victoria is expected to rake in the highest per-capita property tax revenue of all the states until 2026-27, with Victorians set to fork out $2120 in property taxes per person in 2023-24.
That was compared with $1646 in NSW in 2023-24, and $1343 in Queensland in the same period, the report said.
Victoria’s combined property tax revenue per person was expected to be about 21 per cent higher than in NSW in 2025-26.
“Victoria is expected to rely more heavily on property taxes to generate revenue than any other state,” the report said.
The report noted NSW was yet to release a state budget for 2023-24.
Victorian Opposition Leader John Pesutto blamed the state’s high taxes on “waste and mismanagement” by the Andrews government.
Every extra dollar in property taxes meant more pressure on rents and property prices, he said.
“With Victoria’s rents already rising at the fastest rate in the nation, higher property taxes will only make a bad situation worse and push secure, affordable housing for many Victorians even further out of reach,” Mr Pesutto said.
The NSW Labor government recently axed a plan from the former coalition administration to begin weaning the state off stamp duty, which would have been partially replaced by an opt-in land tax scheme.
AAP
