The NSW Government has announced it will introduce a new tax on banks and the value of their properties, to address concerns that property values are being inflated and that they are using bank owned land for their own purposes.
The property tax will be assessed on bank owned, non-residential properties that are valued below the amount they hold.
The government’s new scheme will apply to all property owners in NSW, but will apply only to properties with a value over $2 million.
The Treasurer said the change was needed to “help alleviate the housing crisis” and ensure banks and their property owners were not profiting off the housing shortage.
“This tax will go down a notch to tackle the scourge of property prices rising to unaffordable levels,” Treasurer Michael Sukkar said.
“The NSW Government is taking an important step in the right direction, and will help alleviate the looming housing crisis by tackling the scourge that is bank owned and non-residential property tax.”
The NSW government is also calling on banks to use a percentage of the tax revenue to help address the housing and homelessness crisis.
Property taxes have increased at a rate of 5.6 per cent since 2009, according to the Australian Tax Office.
However, there are concerns that the increase is unsustainable and is likely to lead to more property tax increases and increases in the cost of housing.
The NSW Opposition said the property tax increase was unnecessary and “a direct result of a Liberal Government who are unwilling to acknowledge that there is a housing crisis in NSW”.
Property tax increases are often linked to property prices and are typically based on an index that measures the value, density and area of a property.
However the NSW Government said the new scheme would apply to the entire NSW market.
“It will take the pressure off banks and ensure they pay the full value of property tax,” Finance Minister Kelly O’Dwyer said.
Mr O’Connor said the scheme would help address concerns about banks’ tax-free properties.
“Property tax has been a very important part of the NSW economy and that has to continue,” he said.
Property tax will rise by 5.5 per cent from November 1, 2018 to December 31, 2019.
The Government said it was committed to increasing the rate of property taxes, and was making changes to the tax system to make sure that it remained fair and sustainable.
The new scheme, which applies to all non-property-owning properties in NSW and will be applied to all properties with the value over 2 million, will apply at the property level.
Property owners will have to pay an assessed value of at least $2.2 million for each property, which is less than the current level.
Mr Sukkar also said the changes would help “deter rent-seeking activity, particularly in the commercial and residential property market”.
The government said it would also work with property owners to reduce the tax burden on the sector.
“By ensuring that bank owned residential properties are taxed at the appropriate rate, we are ensuring that they remain tax-exempt,” Mr Sukker said.
The changes were announced at the State Government’s Property Tax Week, where the Treasurer announced the NSW Budget.
Property Tax is a tax on property owners.
It is imposed on a range of different types of property.
This includes: bank owned private buildings