If land tax replaced payroll/property taxes

By Gavin R. Putland

The following table is self-explanatory, except perhaps for the last four lines. “Total tax” indicates that all four tax categories (payroll tax, existing land tax, conveyancing stamp duty and insurance taxes) are to be replaced. “Total property” indicates that only the last three are to be replaced. “Total value” indicates that all three categories of land are included in the base (and the rates are shown in bold). “Total-OOR” indicates that owner-occupied residential land (assumed to constitute 2/3 of the value of residential land) is exempt. The calculated rates are pessimistic in that they are based on mid-2009 land values and are required to replace the revenue received in 2010-11.

Land tax rates to replace payroll & property taxes in Australian States/Territories

NSW Vic Qld SA WA Tas NT ACT Land value, $bn [1] Residential 799.7 630.7 417.6 151.3 320.0 31.0 15.5 42.5 Commercial 108.6 90.5 53.5 21.0 42.5 3.3 3.6 3.8 Rural 114.1 63.0 21.9 23.6 23.9 6.9 0.5 0.1 Total 1022.4 784.2 493.0 195.9 386.4 41.2 19.6 46.4 Total-OOR [2] 489.3 363.7 214.6 95.0 173.1 20.5 9.3 18.1 Tax revenue, $M [3] Payroll 6399 4354 3023 951 2623 286 164 286 Land 2289 1398 1042 576 516 75 0 110 Conveyancing 4045 3910 1933 784 1140 145 102 272 Insurance 2035 1456 546 371 468 65 33 60 Total 14768 11118 6544 2682 4747 571 299 728 Total property [4] 8369 6764 3521 1731 2124 285 135 442 Required rate, %/year Total tax / Total value 1.44 1.42 1.33 1.37 1.23 1.39 1.53 1.57 Total tax / Total-OOR 3.02 3.06 3.05 2.82 2.74 2.78 3.23 4.03 Total property / Total value 0.82 0.86 0.71 0.88 0.55 0.69 0.69 0.95 Total property / Total-OOR 1.71 1.86 1.64 1.82 1.23 1.39 1.46 2.45

Notes