Important details on new tax on residential housing in the Territory, to be introduced on 1 July 2011 as part of the 2012 Budget, need to be made publicly available as a matter of urgency according to the Property Council.
As part of the ACT Budget handed down this year, details were revealed about changes to be made to the Change of Use Charge system that has been historically used to calculate the change in value attributable to a change in the land usage.
The new system, to be implemented from 1 July will be known as the Lease Variation Charge, and brings into effect a new codified system, with the intention of providing certainty for Change of Use Charges in development applications.
Property Council ACT Executive Director, Catherine Carter, said that industry has no argument with a codified system, but remains concerned about the dramatic increase in the cost of redevelopment which will come about because of significant new charges which will apply to lease variations and a change to the formula used in calculating those charges.
“Of very immediate concern is the fact that although we are now only three weeks away from implementation of the new system, the ACT Government has yet to release important details about how the new system will actually work.
“For example, no one has yet seen the final codification schedules that have been produced for each suburb, or the maps. The maps are important because most suburbs have been divided into three localities, each with different values.
“Differing values will change costs dramatically. Without this detail no one is able to make concrete decisions about the new system, how much it’s going to cost, and whether in fact a new development is going to be viable at all.
“Both industry and the community urgently need more information from government on this very important issue,” Ms Carter said.
For further information contact:
Catherine Carter, Executive Director, 02 6248 6902 or 0412 330 079
