"PM concerned by land tax"

Courier Mail, 11 March 2005

RESIDENTS of Victoria and NSW should be concerned about spiralling land and property taxes, Prime Minister John Howard said today.

Earlier this week more than 150 people rallied outside a suburban Melbourne hotel that was forced to close after its land tax bill soared from $1400 in 1999 to $38,000 this year.

Investment property and holiday house owners in NSW were hit with higher taxes from the beginning of this year.

"You are creating discrepancies between the states and it's been more attractive for people to move from one state to another," Mr Howard told Melbourne radio 3AW.

"I don't play favourites between the states and the question of whether a business investment occurs in NSW or Victoria is of no consequence to me.

"But it ought to be of consequence to Victorians and it ought to be of consequence to people living in NSW if the taxes levied by their state governments disadvantages their states, and it ought to be of concern to the voters at elections in those two states."

However, Mr Howard said the issue was unlikely to be raised directly for discussion at premiers' conference talks about the use of GST revenue.

The states had more revenue from the GST than "any of us have ever dreamt" and should therefore abolish more state taxes, he said.

"I don't think the GST has failed, I think the use of the GST by the states has failed," Mr Howard said.

"I was unhappy with what the states were doing with the additional revenue."

Despite an OECD report this week having found that Australia had bucked the developed world trend by raising taxes over the past eight years, Mr Howard said taxpayers were not getting a raw deal out of the post-GST tax regime.

"We're also as taxpayers not paying other taxes," he said.

"There's no doubt that the introduction of the GST has been of advantage to business ... there's no doubt that the GST has been of benefit to exporters."

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