The housing crisis is a policy issue the ACT Government is trying to address. Many of the policy solutions rightly so are focussing on the big complex parts of the problem such as zoning or land release. There are still small problems that exist that can be changed quite simply to achieve maximum benefit. One of these issues is the ability for an investor homeowner to pass on land tax at sale to owner occupied buyer.
Land tax is an ACT Government tax that applies to ACT properties that are not your principal place of residence. This is a tax to capture those that have an investment property that they rent out. At the date of settlement any outstanding monies owing to the ACT Government following settlement and transfer of a property will become the responsibility of the new owner/s. This is logical when it comes to Rates and Other Charges but currently it can still apply to Land Tax even when the buyer is planning on moving in for it to be a principal place of residence. This is against the purpose of the tax and should not be owed to the buyer who plans to move in.
At a time when buying a housing is incredibly hard adding an extra cost that can add thousands of dollars to a purchase does not pass the pub test. This should be amended so that the seller is unable to pass on land tax to the owner who plans to move in within three months to make it their principal place of residence.