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Queensland’s Miles government will review property taxes and charges if it wins the state election, according to the Deputy Premier.
Cameron Dick, the Deputy Premier, Treasurer, and Minister for Trade and Investment of the Queensland state government, has said that Miles Labor government will review Queensland’s tax settings that affect the housing market, with a view to further increasing housing supply.
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Queensland’s next general election is scheduled to be held on 26 October 2024. Should the Miles government be re-elected, the administration will push forward with a review of the state’s property taxes and how any potential reforms might affect housing supply, state revenues, and ongoing fiscal sustainability.
The review on potential property tax reform could then inform the 2024–25 state budget.
The review comes following requests from industry groups such as the Property Council of Australia, which had flagged that the state government had introduced 12 new or increased property taxes since 2007, and aims to deliver long-term improvement of economically sustainable housing supply.
Announcing the pledge, Dick said: “Queensland Treasury is always looking at Queensland’s tax settings to ensure that we remain nationally and globally competitive.
“But given current housing market constraints, now is the right time to develop and undertake a review of the impact that state taxes and charges have on housing supply and the property sector.”
According to Dick, the review would also “need to consider potential unintended consequences that changing settings could have on property prices”.
“It will also look at the affect that changes in revenue settings have on the state’s ongoing fiscal sustainability,” he said.
“Given that housing availability will continue to be a challenge for any future Queensland Government, as requested by the Property Council, this review would be conducted after this year’s State Election, with its results to be considered as part of the 2024–25 Queensland Budget.”
Jess Caire, Property Council’s Queensland executive director, welcomed the announcement but said collaboration and consultation must be at the heart of the review.
“As with any review the devil will be in the detail, and it is critical that industry and government work together to ensure the review doesn’t result in any unintended consequences,” she said.
“What we don’t want to see is increased taxes across other property sectors or any new taxes levied on the industry.
“Taxing the very industry that delivers the homes, critical infrastructure, offices, shops, and industrial developments our state needs within an inch of its life is counterproductive.
“It is imperative that this review is conducted independently – we look forward to working with the government to work through the details of the review to make sure the impact on the property ecosystem and on Queensland households is thoroughly understood.
“This includes including setting the review’s terms of reference, overseeing the review at key milestones, and agreeing draft recommendations to government.
“Genuine consultation with industry, who are at the frontline of delivering new housing supply, will be essential to this process so we don’t see another example of robbing Peter to pay Paul.”
The CEO of the Real Estate Institute of Queensland, Antonia Mercorella, also flagged some reservations.
“It’s promising that the goal of increasing housing supply has been identified as the focus of this review into state-based taxes and charges for the housing market,” she said.
“However, we know that ambiguous announcements such as these can rattle the confidence of the investment community and destabilise the property market. Moreover, it can have an impact on the commercial property sector which flows on to employment opportunities for the Queensland community.
“Ahead of the review which will look at potential reforms, we are calling for a commitment from the State Government to not impose any more new or increased property taxes on investors, owner-occupiers, small business or developers.
“The property market thrives on stability and predictability, so this assurance of no new property taxes would go a long way to help restore investor confidence in the interim.”
She said that she believed any review would need to be conducted independently, outside of Parliamentary influence, “to be truly effective”.
“Considering that a property tax review was first proposed at the Housing Summit in October 2022, it’s welcome news that this initiative will go ahead two years later as we believe [it’s] an important piece of the puzzle,” Mercorella said.
“Given how closely linked Queensland’s economic prosperity and social well-being is to the health of the property market, we would like to see this become a permanent part of the State Government’s remit to review the impact on property taxes each year and publish those as part of the budget process.”
The pledge to review property taxes comes as other states make changes to taxation of real estate. On Monday (1 July), the Victorian government commenced its phase-out of stamp duty on commercial property.
The land transfer duty on commercial and industrial properties is now being phased out to an annual property tax known as the Commercial And Industrial Property Tax (CIPT).
[Related: Victorian commercial stamp duty reform takes effect]
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