Meeting slams state tax grab

By Melissa Grant
Many labelled the Growth Areas Infrastructure Contribution scheme – which could charge some Casey landholders $95,000 a hectare – a con, saying they stood to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars, even millions, if the tax is imposed.
Some residents also accused the State Government of withholding information about the scheme. They said fact sheets weren’t informative and the GAA hadn’t responded to requests for further information about the charge.
Wednesday’s meeting at the Officer town hall, organised by the State Opposition, has been flagged as a beginning of a campaign against the proposed land tax.
Liberal-Nationals Coalition leader Ted Baillieu described the scheme as madness, saying affected landholders would be taxed more than the value of their land.
“That’s confiscation, the kind of thing you see in a mad republic,” he said.
“They want to grab the cash out of your pockets.”
The State Government remains tight-lipped about the windfall it will receive from the tax, but Opposition Planning Minister Matthew Guy said it would raise hundreds of millions of dollars.
He said some developers could also be hit with bills of $33 million, unforseen costs which could cost jobs for Victoria.
“At the end of the day the government is finding scapegoats as to how it can find extra money,” Mr Guy.
A State Government spokesman said the tax was a flat fee that aimed to tap into some of the “large windfall profits that history demonstrates come when land is rezoned for urban use”.
He said the Opposition lacked policy to deal with Melbourne’s growth, and accused them of using scare tactics by sending out flyers to residents not covered by the Growth Areas Infrastructure Charge.
Landholders in Officer’s urban fringe were brought into the UGB in 2005. The proposed scheme, announced on 2 December, requires those landholders to pay $80,000 per hectare.
Those included in or after 2009 will be taxed $95,000 per hectare. In Casey, the UGB is set to expand with 5500 hectares of land from Cranbourne East to Clyde being considered for inclusion.
The charge only applies to properties of 0.4 hectares or bigger.
A spokeswoman for the Growth Areas Authority (GAA) said the average price of land within the UGB was in excess of $300,000 a hectare, and unzoned land about $50,000 per hectare.
John Holtham, who has land in the UGB in Officer, said many landowners were in limbo – they were paying high council rates and couldn’t sell because they wouldn’t make a profit.
“Our rates have quadrupled,” he said.
“You can’t sit here, we can’t, and you can’t sell.”
The charge is triggered when land in the UGB is sold, if the landowner is developing the land or when the title changes at subdivision. The GAA spokeswoman said it wasn’t “envisaged to apply to inheritances”.
The legislation is yet to come before parliament.