Tax grab
There's been some news this week with regards to the Victorian Labor government nudging up property taxes to raise a windfall to shore up the budget coffers.
We've seen such tax grabs before, and this time around there are amendments to land tax, new taxes on development, and property investment.
There will be substantial increases to land tax for properties valued at above $1.8 million, and a Windfall Tax for capital gains related to rezoning (there was a similar 'betterment' levy in Sydney in the early 1970s, but it was abolished relatively quickly).
It's been a challenging year for Victoria, with the state no longer attracting interstate migrants as it was previously.
In fact, thousands were leaked to lifestyle locations in south-east Queensland due to Melbourne's virus outbreaks and lockdowns, as well as the increased ability to work from home.
NSW duties boom
There should be little need for New South Wales to attempt anything similar from a tax perspective, with property transaction volumes rebounding sharply towards 250,000 over the year to March 2021.
Total land and transfer duties have surged back to $8.2 billion for the 12 month period, with much more to come over the remainder of the year.
For context, Victoria's land tax measures are expected to bring in $2.7 billion in additional property taxes over four years.
