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Land value taxation history in the Australia dating back from Henry George and Graham Berry. Each Australian state has different laws of land tax.

History

South Australia was the first Australian state to introduce a land tax, based on the unimproved capital value of land, in 1884. In 1910, George Allen (first secretary to the Treasury) founded the Land Tax Office to service land taxes at the federal level as a form of wealth tax and as a means to break up large tracts of underutilised land. Over time, the productivity base of the economy diversified from being mostly agrarian at the beginning of the 20th century, but wealth was held in more diverse forms and therefore federal land taxes were already ineffective. Federal land taxes were imposed until 30 June 1952, but still operate at the state/local level.

Usage

Land tax is generally levied on the unimproved capital value of the land (not the total property value). This is assessed every year.

Land taxes in Australia are levied by the states, and generally apply to land holdings only within a particular state. The exemption thresholds (land tax will become payable at this dollar value) vary, as do the tax rates and other rules. Most Australians do not pay land tax, as most states provide a land tax exemption for the primary home or residence.

By revenue, property taxes represent 4.5% of total taxation in Australia. A government report in 1986 for Brisbane, Queensland advocated a land tax.

The Henry Tax Review of 2010 commissioned by the federal government recommended that state governments replace stamp duty with land value tax. The review proposed multiple marginal rates and that most agricultural land would be in the lowest band with a zero rate. Only the ACT moved to adopt this system and planned to reduce stamp duty by 5% and raise land tax by 5% for each of 20 years.

Stamp duty

The difference between land tax and stamp duty is that the stamp duty is charged by state/territory governments on transactions like buying property and the land tax is charged by most state/territory governments on land you own.

Notes

1. Georgist ideas were adopted to some degree in Australia.
2. His election manifesto proposed a punitive land tax designed to break up the squatter class's great pastoral properties. The Councillors were sufficiently alarmed to pass a modified version of Berry's land tax bill, despite the urgings of the ultra-conservative former Premier Sir Charles Sladen to reject it outright. Berry, emboldened, next introduced a bill for the payment of members of the Assembly, which the trade unions were demanding so that working class candidates could be elected. Berry "tacked" the bill to the Appropriation Bill so that Council could not reject it without paralysing the Colony's finances. The Council resented this blackmail and at Sladen's urging declined to pass the bill, laying it aside.

References

1. Gaffney, M. Mason. "Henry George 100 Years Later". Association for Georgist Studies Board. Archived from the original on 2008-07-24. Retrieved 2008-05-12.
2. Caves, R. W. (2004). Encyclopedia of the City. Routledge. p. 301.
3. Turner, Henry (2011). A History of the Colony of Victoria: From Its Discovery to Its Absorption Into the Commonwealth of Australia. Vol. 2. Cambridge University Press. pp. 193, 217. ISBN 978-1-108-03983-3.
4. ^ "Land tax surcharge". www.revenue.nsw.gov.au. 2016-11-23. Retrieved 2021-02-23.
5. ^ Raiss, Ken (14 January 2020). "What is Land Tax and can I reduce it?". Property Update. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
6. ^ Smith, Stewart (April 2005). Land Tax: An Update (PDF). p. 1. ISBN 07313-1779-3. ISSN 1325-4456. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
7. ^ "A brief history of Australia's tax system". Treasury. 4 September 2006. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
8. Tingle, Laura (2017). "Settling for More". In Search of Good Government: Great Expectations & Political Amnesia. Black Inc. ISBN 9781863959285.
9. Mattock, Jason (2014). Doing Business in Australia for China: How to Invest in Australia for Chinese. p. 94. ISBN 978-1-503-20239-9.
10. "NSW.gov.au". Lands.nsw.gov.au. Archived from the original on 2 July 2010. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
11. "State Revenue Office, Land Tax". sro.vic.gov.au. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
12. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2017. Retrieved 23 February 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
13. Communications, c=AU; o=The State of Queensland; ou=Department of Environment and Heritage Protection; ou=Corporate. "What is land tax? – Environment, land and water". www.qld.gov.au. Retrieved 23 February 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
14. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-04-11. Retrieved 2021-02-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
15. "5506.0 – Taxation Revenue, Australia, 2007–08". 14 April 2009. Archived from the original on 30 August 2009. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
16. "Brisbane's Inquiry into Land Value Rating". Land Value Taxation Campaign. Retrieved 23 February 2021. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

Further reading

• Mangioni, Vince (2015). Land Tax in Australia: Fiscal reform of sub-national government. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-56768-4.

• Land value taxation
• Taxation in Australia