Glen Waverley: Kingsway business owners up in arms over soaring land taxes

Soaring land taxes are crushing mum and dad investors and suburban small business owners, with some reporting their tax bills have more than doubled in two years.

Matthew Wong at his vacant shop in Glen Waverley. Picture: Hamish Blair

Mum and dad investors and small businesses in Monash are getting squeezed because of soaring land taxes.

Owners of some Glen Waverley land have had their taxes more than double in the past two years.

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Matthew Wong is one of about 20 land owners in and around Kingsway who have joined together to decry the situation, citing one example of the land tax rising from $18,000 to $35,000.

“This kind of thing cannot happen,” he said.

“We live on the income from these properties.”

Craig Gibson, who is in the tax team at Macpherson Kelley, felt that “loyal mums and dads are getting squeezed the hardest”, with the average valuation increase exceeding 20 per cent.

“The valuation cycle across the state has gone up pretty rapidly,” he said.

Kingsway businesses are suffering.

Mr Gibson said the way the market moved from 2016-18, the raise was not unexpected, but would still come as “a bit of a shock” to property owners.

The problem with the methodology to value land is that it is based on its highest potential, disregarding what was already there, he said.

“As if the best thing that could be constructed there, was constructed there,” he said.

“If it is an isolated piece of land, that’s fair, but across the state … not all those properties are developable.”

Mr Wong, 76, said there were many flaws with the process.

“You can’t pass on those raises to the tenant, because it’s against the law,” he said.

“And even if you did, they would go under.”

Land taxes are hurting small businesses and ‘mum and dad’ investors.

Mr Gibson said Glen Waverley was a good example, considering many sites were sold for development purposes, but that was “not viable” for all properties otherwise the area would not thrive as a community.

The land tax is based on property valuations and which bracket that would place them in, similar to income tax.

Monash Mayor Shane McCluskey said the council opted to let the Valuer-General managed the valuation process.

Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas said they were making land valuations fairer and more consistent across the state.

He said annual valuations would start this year.