To be clear, land tax rates in Tasmania have not changed and have remained the same since 2010, with the same calculation rules that were put in place by Labor when they were in Government.
The only thing that changed is that the Labor-Green Government including Cabinet Minister David O’Byrne removed the previous concession for shack owners.**
Our economy and property market are strong, which inevitably means the market value of property valuations increase. Land tax is calculated using land market values determined by the independent Valuer-General.
The Government has not increased any tax - in fact, we have provided waivers on commercial land where owners are experiencing hardship during the pandemic, providing land tax relief of up to $30 million this financial year.
Anyone experiencing difficulty paying their land tax can apply to the Commissioner of State Revenue to defer lump sum payments and pay their land tax by instalments. I encourage anyone who is experiencing financial difficulty to contact the State Revenue Office on 1800 001 388 or by email at taxhelp@treasury.tas.gov.au
What David O’Byrne is not revealing, is that it is actually him and the Labor party that abolished the shack exemption when they were in Government last time and are the only ones with a plan to jack up taxes with their shack tax. This hypocrisy is truly galling.
Shack owners would be smashed with thousands of dollars under Labor’s ‘shack tax’ – a direct and outrageous attack on the Tasmanian way of life.
Will Mr O’Byrne publicly dump Labor’s promised new shack tax today?
**https://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-06-16/jobs-schools-hit-hard-in-tasmanian-budget/2760678