That equates to about 3.4 per cent of annual residential property sales,according to Treasury officials,with Treasurer Matt Kean lamenting the extent of the reform would remain relatively narrow until the Commonwealth government agreed to come to the table.
“In order to do wide-scale stamp duty reform it needs support from the Commonwealth government,” Kean said on Tuesday.
Kean described the state’s investment into housing reform as “once in a generation,” and believes scrapping stamp duty – a lucrative tax for state governments – would make NSW the envy of the country.
While the government’s initial proposal envisaged a permanent shift for a property once land tax had been chosen,Tuesday’s budget revealed homes would not be locked in.
Budget papers revealed the state expects to generate more than $14 billion from transfer duty on homes in 2021-22 financial year. That will decline to $10.8 billion in 2022-23,and $8.9 billion in 2023-24. A deferral scheme for the annual land tax is available for people who cannot afford it.
PwC Australia chief economist Jeremy Thorpe said while the changes to stamp duty weren’t major reform,given the limited number of people it applied to,the state government had done close to all it could without Commonwealth assistance.