Queensland Scraps Multi-Jurisdiction Land Tax Proposal

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Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has shelved a contentious proposal to introduce a nation-first multi-jurisdictional land tax after an apparent lack of support from her state counterparts.

The proposal would have seen Queensland charge investors land tax based on the value of all their property holdings across the country, not just within the state, which is the usual practice.

For example, if an individual owned 10 properties around Australia and they were to buy just one in Queensland, the government would charge land tax based on an aggregated valuation of all the properties added together.

Palaszczuk originally planned to take the proposal to National Cabinet, but an earlier meeting with the state’s treasurers resulted in the idea being torpedoed.

“It … came out of the treasurers’ meeting. There were discussions held at that forum, and it relies on the goodwill of other states,” she told reporters on Sept. 30.

Deputy Premier Steven Miles said the government was not aware their state counterparts would be unwilling to assist.

“I think the principle of that measure made sense when the decisions were made, but since then, we’ve had these positions taken by other states and territories that they won’t assist to close that loophole,” he said.

The opposition Treasury spokesperson David Janetzki said the policy reversal was an “economic embarrassment of epic proportions.”

“Despite this embarrassing back down, the fact remains the confidence of renters and investors has been rocked, and Queenslanders no longer trust the Palaszczuk Government,” he said.

New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet had been one of the most vocal critics of the scheme saying the state would not cooperate with Queensland on implementation.

“This is a tax implemented by a state that impacts the residents of NSW,” he said in comments obtained by AAP. “It is wrong, and we are not going to comply with it, so we are not going to provide that information.”

The land tax relied on the Queensland government compiling and identifying what properties individuals owned across the country—each jurisdiction runs its own land registry with little crossover.

The most recent iteration of the plan relied on an “honesty” system where individuals complete a declaration of their land holdings.

Queensland’s deputy under treasurer, Leon Allen, has previously conceded that no existing arrangements for sharing data existed and the success of the policy would be “highly dependent” on what information could be obtained.