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The Jacinta Allan government’s message to property investors couldn’t be clearer; you’re not welcome in Victoria

Victoria’s debt-riddled state government is hooked on property taxes and it is simply unsustainable for many suffering land tax stress to hold on to property.

Victorians being ‘gouged’ amid the state's ‘unbelievable’ financial woes

Victoria’s debt-riddled state government is hooked on property taxes and that spells bad news for landlords – and even worse news for renters.

Soaring land tax rates, together with a raft of regulations that diminish the rights of landlords, has seen investors exit the market, reducing the pool of available rental properties.

Meanwhile, we have mad Marxist activists in senior roles within the state Labor government who have never held a job outside of politics and the union movement making the sort of decisions that has seen Victoria plunged into record debt.

The state government is hooked on property taxes. Picture: Valeriu Campan
The state government is hooked on property taxes. Picture: Valeriu Campan

The likes of Minister for Jobs and Industry, Women, and Treaty and First Peoples, Natalie Hutchins who refused to rule out paying reparations or giving compulsorily acquired private property to Indigenous groups.

“After 200 years of colonisation, where this state took away lands in the settlement, murdered people and took away culture and language we are not going to be ruling anything in or out as we go to the negotiation table in regards to treaty,” she said.

This is the sort of undergraduate neo-Marxist rhetoric one would expect to hear at a student protest, not coming from a senior minister.

Investors are exiting the market, reducing the pool of available rental properties. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling
Investors are exiting the market, reducing the pool of available rental properties. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

Hutchins can’t even run her own government-funded website, which still has her listed as the minister for education.

It’s little wonder property investors have no confidence in Victoria and are opting to invest elsewhere.

One of the country’s leading buyer’s advocacy groups, Propertyology, has told its clients not to invest in Victoria due to the state government’s anti-landlord policies.

Natalie Hutchins has refused to rule out paying reparations or giving compulsorily acquired private property to Indigenous groups. Picture: Valeriu Campan
Natalie Hutchins has refused to rule out paying reparations or giving compulsorily acquired private property to Indigenous groups. Picture: Valeriu Campan

And the Herald Sun reported in late 2023 that one in four landlords had sold an investment property in the last year.

The Jacinta Allan government’s message to property investors couldn’t be clearer; you’re not welcome in Victoria.

The skyrocketing land tax burden is also crushing the dreams of families who have worked and sacrificed to afford a holiday property, or have inherited one, with many having to sell after seeing their bills double and triple in the space of a few years. It’s sadly an all-too- common experience for property owners across the state.

It is simply unsustainable for many suffering land tax stress to hold on to property in Victoria.

Rita Panahi
Rita PanahiColumnist and Sky News host

Rita is a senior columnist at Herald Sun, and Sky News Australia anchor of The Rita Panahi Show and co-anchor of top-rating Sunday morning discussion program Outsiders.Born in America, Rita spent much of her childhood in Iran before her family moved to Australia as refugees. She holds a Master of Business, with a career spanning more than two decades, first within the banking sector and the past ten years as a journalist and columnist.

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Original URL: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/rita-panahi/the-governments-message-to-property-investors-couldnt-be-clearer-youre-not-welcome-in-victoria/news-story/3f79f0064d1c3af160eba24d2bab7c49