Australian industry calls for end of "cash grab" stamp duty

Photo credit: 8LettersUK

The Australian property industry has called for an end to stamp duty, which it has branded as a "cash grab".

The Australian Property Council, which represents the country's $600 billion property industry, says that stamp duty has become a "runaway cash grab" that is hurting the conomy and "locking out potential homebuyers".

In the last 20 years, average stamp duty costs have increased by up to 795 per cent.

The cost of stamp duty over the life of an average mortgage is now $61,542 in Sydney, $56,616 in Melbourne, $14,733 in Brisbane, $21,564 in Hobart, $33,654 in Perth, $35,427 in Canberra, $30,393 in Adelaide and $49,701 in Darwin.

"These astounding increases in the costs of stamp duty are nothing short of scandalous," comments the Property Council's chief executive Ken Morrison.

"The community should be outraged that they are being slugged with such excessive charges, especially at a time when housing affordability is an acute challenge."

Indeed, Sydney and Melbourne have seen prices climb 7.4 per cent and 7.2 per cent respectively over the past 12 months, taking them up to 10th and 11th place in the Knight Frank Prime Global Cities Index.

The Council argues that abolishing stamp duty must be a "top priority" of national tax reform and for every government in Australia.

Property owners are now Australia’s largest collective taxpayer, with property taxes making up to 46 per cent of state, territory and local government budgets, with no other asset class subject to such a high level of taxation.

It has proposed that the abolition of stamp duty could be funded by replacing it with "more efficient" and "less damaging" revenue sources, such as GST (goods and services tax).

"Taxes are supposed to lean lightly on the economy, not act as a barrier to economic activity, job creation and prosperity – but that is exactly what stamp duty does," adds Morrison.