Thursday, 4 February 2021

Stamps to stay

Stamp duty holds up

It's almost universally agreed that stamp duty will be scrapped and a broad-based land tax will be phased in over time.

And it's even more universally agreed that this will be a great thing.

I'll take the other side of that trade.

Even through the most extraordinary period of restrictions New South Wales raked in $7½ billion from stamp duty over the year to November.

Transactions are now recovering so expect that figure to scale to back above $10 billion in 2021.


It will be very hard for state governments to move away from this kind of revenue bonanza. 

Furthermore, don't forget the Law of Unintended Consequences.

Removing stamp duty would increase purchasing capacity, result in higher prices, and lead to far more flipping and speculation.

Anyway, it's good to see transactions are now recovering...

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Money for nothing

Australia's short term notes with lowest yields and a best bid at 0.00 per cent today.


Source: AOFM