On Tuesday 6 June 2017, the 2017-18 ACT Budget was handed down. Revenue-related measures announced include:
- From 1 July 2018, the Government will extend land tax to all residential dwellings that are not the owner’s principal place of residence, whether they are rented or not. Under the current system, land tax is only charged on residential properties that are rented or owned by a company or a trust.
- Commencing in 2017-18, residential and commercial conveyance duty rates will be separated. This is designed to allow levels of taxation to be adjusted to better reflect the differences in each sector as the process of phasing out conveyance duty continues. Conveyance duty for commercial transactions below $1.5 million will be halved in 2017-18, before being fully phased out by 2018-19.
- The Government will reduce the general rates early payment discount to 1% from 1 July 2017.
- The Government will introduce a gaming tax rebate for small and medium clubs to retain 50% of their gaming taxes up to $4 million of gaming revenue.
[ACT Government website: Budget Papers; LTN 106, 7/6/17]