Annastacia Palaszczuk defends changes to land tax

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says a controversial land tax shake-up does not need to be reversed and that the $20m raised would pay for a lot of breakfasts for disadvantaged children.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has defended the government’s controversial land tax shake up, saying the state needed “to get some revenue in to pay” for roads, hospitals and schools and this was keeping in the promise not to “tax households”.

Treasury estimates the changes, which involve using the total value of a property portfolio outside Queensland to determine the rate of land tax in the state, will raise about $20 million extra a year.

Land tax raised about $1.6bn in revenue for the state in the 2021/22 financial year.

Ms Palaszczuk, in her first comments on the land tax changes, signalled she did not think it needed to be repealed.

Annastacia Palaszczuk says changes to land tax will not be repealed. Picture: NCA NewsWire / John Gass

“You need to have an equal playing field and this is about big investors in other states, acquiring multiple properties,” she said.

“And government does need to get some revenue in to pay for our roads, new hospitals, and our schools.

“We made it very clear … to people of Queensland, that we will not tax households.”

During the 2020 election, Treasurer Cameron Dick pledged no new or increased taxes when he was asked whether businesses would cop any sort of hike.

Since December 2021 the state government has introduced and passed changes to land tax, a new regime for coal royalties estimated by the industry to raise billions more than estimated, and changes to point of consumption tax for wagering companies.

Ms Palaszczuk said $20m was a lot of money to Queenslanders, and could equate to “cost of living relief”, would pay for “a lot more breakfasts for children from disadvantaged backgrounds”.

“$20m is a lot of money for a lot of people,” she said.

Major real estate and property players including the REIQ, the Property Council, investors and the Opposition have slammed the land tax changes as detrimental to future investment and that it would hike rents.

Other experts, including Grattan Institute’s Brendan Coates, have been sceptical about rents being driven up by the changes and that ultimately only a small subset of landlords with multiple properties will be stung.