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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
Lucy Bladen

Mid-year update shows stamp duty continues to give boost to ACT budget

The ACT's mid-year budget update shows stamp duty continues to boost the budget. Picture by Elesa Kurtz

Revenue from stamp duty taxes is falling in the ACT but not as quickly as the territory government anticipated.

Chief Minister and Treasurer Andrew Barr's mid-year budget update has shown residential stamp duty is expected to give a $15 million boost to the budget's bottom line this financial year.

Commercial stamp duties are expected to be even higher, delivering $40 million more than first forecast.

Mr Barr said the government had been actively targeting commercial property investment.

"We've had a large number of significant commercial property transactions where $300 million buildings change hands," he said.

"Government has been actively pursuing investment in Canberra's commercial property stock, inbound investment into the ACT, new hotels, those sorts of things."

Stamp duty is expected to pull in more than $400 million for the government this year.

Stamp duty taxes are being phased out in the ACT as part of a 20-year reform program, announced in 2012. Stamp duty taxes are being replaced by increases to general rates.

Budget documents show stamp duty is about 11 per cent of the territory's revenue, down from 17 per cent before the tax reform.

General rates are expected to raise more than $700 million for the government this year.

Mr Barr is anticipating revenue from stamp duty will decline as house prices continue to fall. The government has forecast residential stamp duty taxes will be more then $22 million higher over the next four years.

"So the forecast for residential stamp duty collections is that they will continue to decline as we go out of the peak of the housing market," he said.

"But I guess that's the nature of the housing market and sort of substantially why we've been moving away from stamp duty as a source of revenue, because it goes up and down depending on the housing market."

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