5 June 2012

ACT Budget 2012. $318.3 Million in the hole

| johnboy
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Andrew Barr’s office has kicked off the budget reporting with the Budget overview, which is now promising the jam tomorrow surplus in 2015-16.


So what else do we have?

There is “support for local business” which seems to mean spending money.


Also a pretty major overhaul of taxes:

— Conveyancing duty (also known as stamp duty) will be abolished. Stamp duty is unfair, and poses a significant extra cost burden on people buying a home. It will be phased out progressively over twenty years. From tomorrow, stamp duty will be decreased, making buying a home cheaper. Stamp duty on a $500,000 home, for example, will fall by $2,450 immediately and by more than $7,000 over five years.

— Taxes on insurance will be abolished. The current 10 per cent tax on general insurance policies and 5 per cent tax on life insurance will be phased out over five years, starting on 1 October 2012. For average households which insure the savings will eventually reach $171 each year. The abolition of insurance duty will also reduce the cost of insurance premiums for businesses.

— Payroll tax will be reduced. The threshold at which businesses become liable for payroll tax will rise from $1.5 million to $1.75 million from 1 July 2012. 115 businesses will no longer pay any payroll tax and 1,865 businesses will receive a tax cut.

— The Home Buyer Concession Scheme will be extended. From tomorrow the income threshold for the Scheme will be extended to $150,000, making more people eligible for a reduction in stamp duty. To boost the construction sector and the supply of new homes, the scheme will only apply to new homes, substantially renovated homes, and vacant blocks of residential land.

— Land tax will be reduced for landlords who rent out low- and medium-priced properties. From July 1 2012 land tax will be reduced on properties with an Average Unimproved Value (AUV) of between $75,000 and $390,000. This will provide average savings of $208 each year on land tax for about 76 per cent of rental properties.

— Land tax on commercial properties will be abolished. From July 1 2012 this tax will be shifted to the rates base.

— Rates will become fairer. Rates will be continue to be calculated in two parts – through a fixed charge paid by all households to cover the provision of basic municipal services, and a series of progressive marginal rates. From 1 July 2012 the fixed charge will be $555, and four rates thresholds will be introduced. Overall, properties with an AUV below $200,000, almost a quarter of properties, will have their rates bill decrease. Rates will increase by $123 on average for Canberra households – or $2.35 a week. This reform puts the revenue base for the Government on a more stable footing and allows for the abolition of insurance duties and the reductions in stamp duty and land tax.

— Commercial general rates will become fairer. From 1 July 2012 rates will comprise two parts, a fixed charge and progressive thresholds. On average, rates will increase by $1,211, while for commercial properties below the average AUV rates will rise between $11 and $299. However, these increases will be offset by the reduction in insurance and conveyance duty.

There are also concessions:

— The Pensioner Duty Concession Scheme will be expanded. From 1 July 2012 homes valued at up to $570,250 (up from $470,000) will be eligible for full concession. Partial concession will be available on homes valued up to $715,000.

— The General Rates Rebate for pensioners and concession card holders will be expanded. From 1 July 2012 the cap on the rebate will rise from $481 to $565. Uncapped rebate recipients will continue to receive a 50 per cent rebate on their general rates bill.

— The eligibility criteria for the Rates Deferral System will be expanded. From 1 July 2012 non-pensioners above 65 years of age, whether working or not, will be able to defer their rates, subject to income and assets tests. This will allow more Canberrans to access the scheme.

— A Duty Deferral Scheme will remain available during the phasing out of stamp duty. From 1 July 2013 eligible households will be able to amortise the duty for a period of 10 years (an increase from five years), as recommended in the ACT Taxation Review.


The Canberra Times reports that the average Canberran will be paying ~$1,100 more over the year while earning $4,800 more.

So doing it tough as always then.


Simon Corbell has had this to say:

A project office to keep thinking about either a busway or light rail linking Civic and Gungahlin.

More money for ambulances, a Charnwood emergency services facility, an upgrade for the police Winchester Centre, and 000 infrastructure.

For the courts a sentencing database, a case management system, legal services funding, a docket system for the Supreme Court, and some legal aid money.

Money to make the ACT Government carbon neutral (or at least move in that direction).


Joy Burch has two:

$25 million for child protection, $11 million for social housing stock and no-interest loan schemes for low income earners.

For the arts; the telegraphed Tuggeranong Arts Centre upgrade, Canberra Theatre Centre upgrades, more events at Lanyon, and a study to expand the Belconnen Arts Centre.


The ABC sees this as Andrew Barr playing Robin Hood:

Mr Barr says the tax changes are revenue neutral, with reductions balancing out any increases.

He says households on lower incomes will pay less tax and there will be more concessions.


So here are the big papers:

BP1: The Speech.

BP2: The one that actually says what they’re going to do.

BP3: Budget Overview.

BP4: Budget Estimates

The Reader’s Guide to the Budget.


Katy Gallagher’s got three:

A bunch of roadworks, the replacement of 90 action buses (over five years), a major bus station in Erindale, cleaning up the Dickson and Kambah bogs, a recycling centre in Gungahlin, and expanding the Mugga Lane landfill.

Vietnam veterans, asbestos, and a paltry $400,000 for an integrity framework get lumped together.

150 more health professionals


Chris Bourke has a few new things for education; refurbing Taylor Primary, expanding Duffy Primary, and some carbon emission reduction measures.


Chris Bourke has chimed in late with $5 million to support prison inmates returning to the community.


More to come.

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Why the football with the cross on it? They play cricket in heaven, everyone know that.

Verdict: taxes up $640 per year, and still a $318 million (or about $1,000 per person) deficit from only one year of ACT Government operations, which we’ll have to pay back somehow after the election.

Nuf said.

They picked a bad day to introduce the stamp duty change – 5s are very easy to make into 6s on all those contracts that exchanged today…

I welcome the stamp duty change especially since I’ll likely be exchanging contracts this week for a house. $2500 back in my pocket (for the meantime anyway) is a plus.

#4 Holden Caulfield – you ask – Wonder what other “tax reform” will pop up in the meantime to fill the void?

I read where they will simply load those lost taxes onto property rates.

Holden Caulfield5:32 pm 05 Jun 12

Elizabethany said :

The government will change sometime in the next 20 years. I’m not expecting that the elimination of stamp duty promise will survive that long.

Yep, that’s the other flaw with the plan, haha.

VYBerlinaV8_is_back4:54 pm 05 Jun 12

poetix said :

‘From tomorrow the income threshold for the [Home Buyer Concession] Scheme will be extended to $150,000, making more people eligible for a reduction in stamp duty.’

I don’t think people on say, $149,000, should be getting any special assistance from the Government. Middle class welfare anyone? Abolition of stamp duties on the purchase of homes for everyone, on the other hand, is arguably good, but I would like to see death duties introduced to capture some inherited wealth and therefore make things truly more equitable. (And negative gearing abolished, but we’re moving into Commonwealth areas.)

Weaning Australians off middle class welfare is going to be difficult and unpopular, but I think that it will be a good thing for us all in the longer term.

$300k for a feasibilty study. That would be $300k better spent on the arts which last year 12 organisations had to divvy up $250k while the Canberra Capitals get that every year for the next 3 years.

Parking up again. Jeeeesh.

Elizabethany3:59 pm 05 Jun 12

The government will change sometime in the next 20 years. I’m not expecting that the elimination of stamp duty promise will survive that long.

‘From tomorrow the income threshold for the [Home Buyer Concession] Scheme will be extended to $150,000, making more people eligible for a reduction in stamp duty.’

I don’t think people on say, $149,000, should be getting any special assistance from the Government. Middle class welfare anyone? Abolition of stamp duties on the purchase of homes for everyone, on the other hand, is arguably good, but I would like to see death duties introduced to capture some inherited wealth and therefore make things truly more equitable. (And negative gearing abolished, but we’re moving into Commonwealth areas.)

Holden Caulfield3:37 pm 05 Jun 12

pajs said :

I’m stunned. Good & brave policy changes. A phase out of stamp duty is a pretty big change.

Yes, but they’ve given themselves two decades to wean themselves off stamp duty. Wonder what other “tax reform” will pop up in the meantime to fill the void?

I’m stunned. Good & brave policy changes. A phase out of stamp duty is a pretty big change.

Simon has an interesting definition for the word ‘extended’…

“The Home Buyer Concession Scheme will be extended. From tomorrow the income threshold for the Scheme will be extended to $150,000, making more people eligible for a reduction in stamp duty. To boost the construction sector and the supply of new homes, the scheme will only apply to new homes, substantially renovated homes, and vacant blocks of residential land.”

Increasing the income by a relatively small amount while SIGNIFICANTLY reducing the purchases on which the concession sounds like more of a reduction to me.

“Conveyancing duty (also known as stamp duty) will be abolished. Stamp duty is unfair, and poses a significant extra cost burden on people buying a home. It will be phased out progressively over twenty years. From tomorrow, stamp duty will be decreased, making buying a home cheaper. Stamp duty on a $500,000 home, for example, will fall by $2,450 immediately and by more than $7,000 over five years.”

Jeebus! The only Government to take on the Henry Tax Review. Impressive.

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