New Land Tax Laws In Queensland Will Worsen The Queensland Rental Crisis

ACCC URGED TO INVESTIGATE NEW QUEENSLAND LAND TAX LAW

Property Club, which is Australia’s largest member-based property investment group, wants the Queensland Government to be investigated over its radical changes to land tax collections.

And it says the new changes will worsen the critical rental shortage in Queensland.

Founder of Property Club, Kevin Young, who is based in Queensland, said he had written to the Top of Form Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) urging them to investigate the Queensland State Government’s plans to levy land tax on properties owned interstate by property owners residing in Queensland.

“What it means is that Property Club members who already pay land tax for our properties in Queensland will now be slapped by a new land tax for properties we own interstate.

“When this new law becomes operational in 2023, it effectively means property owners in Queensland will be paying land tax on top of land tax!

“That means that investors will stop looking at Queensland investments to build new rental properties and, instead, look interstate. That will worsen the State’s rental crisis.”

“Land taxes on these interstate properties that the Queensland government will now collect will be on top of the land taxes already collected by the State Governments where these interstate properties are located.

“For the first time in the history of Australia, property owners will be paying land tax on top of land tax.

“It would be similar to a consumer paying GST on top of GST to two separate companies for one service even though one company provided no service at all.

“Currently, when a property owner pays land tax, they are paying for services rendered by the State Government in the State where the property is located.

“It is not acceptable for property owners to pay additional land tax to an external State Government which does not provide services in the jurisdiction where the interstate properties are located.

“I strongly believe it is a breach of Federal laws and should be immediately investigated by the ACCC,” he said.

Mr Young said that this land tax change would cost mum and dad members of Property Club thousands of dollars in additional land tax each year that they cannot afford to pay.