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The stamp duty debate has flared up again, with a real estate expert calling the tax a friction point in the home ownership journey.
Speaking on the latest What’s Making Headlines podcast, hosted via Facebook Live on 7 May 2020, Tom Panos and Phillip Tarrant shared their position on stamp duty.
“On the topic of stamp duty: A big issue, I think [is] that it’s actually a friction point. It actually slows up a lot of people transacting in real estate,” Mr Panos said.
“I think so as well,” Mr Tarrant concurred.
Mr Tarrant continued: “Talking New South Wales in particular here, that it’s a pretty archaic tax. It’s not really effective. They’re thinking of changing it more into land tax and changing the way they tax land, but stamp duty... I don’t know anyone that enjoys paying it. I sit there and my mind boggles sometimes when I think just about the transactional… or the shift of property ownership from one person to the other, the government gets a big earn off it.
“Now, the state governments need capital to grow these cities that we live within. It’s absolutely important that they do generate revenue. We all need to contribute to that. But to your point, only last night I was reading [some graphs], in terms of new stock on market over March and April, and it has absolutely fallen off a cliff compared to any other time in the history of real estate in Australia. So, we need to get more properties into the market for sale.
“There’s a supply and demand debate, which is, I guess, supporting the fact that prices won’t decline as much as what some fearmongerers are suggesting. But the lifeblood [of real estate] is a transaction of sale. If we can remove stamp duty to make the whole wealth effect or the feasibility of people getting their properties or choosing to make a decision whether to buy or sell, it’s got to be done. So, I’d highly support that.”
Mr Tarrant and Mr Panos said it’s great to see many real estate bodies pushing changes to the tax — and that the government is starting to listen.
“The Deputy Premier, I couldn’t believe it. It was music to my ears. I thought it was a real estate agent speaking when I heard him. He said, ‘I’m letting you know, we need to actually do something about stamp duty. It’s prohibiting the transactions. And also, we’re announcing that onsite auctions and open for inspections are available, and we’re urging anyone that’s not seriously buying or selling, don’t go to an open for inspection’,” Mr Panos said.
“I couldn’t believe it. This guy was [saying] not only get rid of stamp duty... he also said, ‘No time-wasters on Saturdays. Just the real stuff.’ This guy was too good to be true.”
During the latest episode of What’s Making Headlines, Mr Panos and Mr Tarrant also spoke about the concept of “side hustles”, explaining why they have become increasingly important in today’s economic climate.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Emma Ryan
Emma Ryan is the deputy head of editorial at Momentum Media.
Emma has worked for Momentum Media since 2015, and has since been responsible for breaking some of the biggest stories in corporate Australia, including across the legal, mortgages, real estate and wealth industries. In addition, Emma has launched several additional sub-brands and events, driven by a passion to deliver quality and timely content to audiences through multiple platforms.
Email Emma on: Emma.Ryan@momentummedia.
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