Tuesday 30 October 2018


QLD Premier Labor punitive victims financial emotional


I implore all members and any other people impacted by the Queensland Land tax and Absentee Surcharge legislation to please submit a letter to the Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk MP. I have just submitted another letter outlining my dire situation. I know others are suffering greatly. Please don't be silent on this. They need to know how it is affecting us all.

Here is the direct link to the Premier's contact page:

QLD Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk contact page


Sunday 21 October 2018

Morrison Government to become a minority after Wentworth byelection seat won by Independent Kerryn Phelps


Non residents Primary Residence CGT exemption Scott Morrison Liberal Party Australia


For those considering selling their property/ies due in part to the Liberal Party's removal of Primary Residence CGT exemption for Non-Residents:

Yesterday, 20 October 2018, the seat of Wentworth NSW fell to Kerryn Phelps - Independent, meaning now the Australian Liberal Party has become a minority government. Therefore any legislation that has not yet passed will be very challenging.

I am now uncertain as to what will happen to the removal of the Primary Residence Capital Gains Tax exemption for Non-Residents.
It may well be that the legislation will only be passed - whether in full or an amended version, until after the next election.

But as explained in previous post - for many of us we cannot hold off waiting for a decision to be made when the deadline to sell is by end of June 2019.

It seems for those who do not want to take the risk and wait, now is the time to sell pre-Christmas, with the market clearance rates dropping off after New Year. The clearance rates as they currently stand are already more challenging.

Plus the prediction of further house price corrections means holding off may mean further losses if you hold and wait too long for a decision and realise you still need to sell.

But a back-flip on the proposed legislation would mean many expats/non-residents/future non-residents would more likely not sell, ride the housing correction cycle and keep their property long term.

The problem with this legislation all along was that it was retrospective, whereas it should have protected those who had already bought properties prior to the budget. Now they have caused a whole series of problems, a lot of stress and uncertainty.

Those owning a Primary Residence in QLD of course are affected threefold with the additional corporate rate Land Tax and Absentee Surcharge to deal with.  With the increasing prospect now of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) winning the next election (which will more likely be held sooner now), Bill Shorten may attack property portfolios further with his proposal to remove negative gearing on investment properties as well as halving the 50% Capital Gains Tax Discount.  If you are a non-resident, QLD absentee and mortgage holder then you may be in for very financially challenging times ahead.

Sydney Morning Herald Article outlining repercussions of Morrison government now succumbing to being a minority:
wentworth-hiding-puts-morrison-government-on-course-for-general-election-catastrophe

Saturday 20 October 2018

HYPOCRISY OF AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY GOVERNMENTS REGARDING THEIR VIEWS ON RETROSPECTIVITY.


hypocrisy Chris Bowen Palaszczuk CGT Capital Gains Tax Primary Residence Land Tax Absentee Surcharge retrospectivity retrospective legislation
Australian & QLD Labor Parties cut from the same cloth but display opposing policy on retrospectivity and unintended consequences - hypocrisy.

(Article published on Medium website 20 October 2018 - hypocrisy-of-australian-labor-party-governments-regarding-their-views-on-retrospectivity )

The Australian (National) Labor Party and the QLD (State) Labor Party are effectively ‘cut from the same cloth’.

So why is it that both of the Labor Parties can be so opposing in certain policy views?

I refer to the recent article published 19 October 2018 by ABC reporter Nassim Khadem titled, “Expats could face large capital gains tax bills under proposed laws”. The article refers to the plight of expats who have been caught out by the Liberal government’s scrapping of the Primary Residence Capital Gains Tax exemption for Australian Non-Residents.

Link here: expats-face-large-capital-gains-tax-bills-under-proposed-laws

Chris Bowen ‘s expressed concerns over retrospectivity and unintended consequences

Australian Labor Party’s Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen wrote to the then Treasurer at the time Scott Morrison saying that, while he supported the measure in principle, he was concerned about the “unintended consequences” it would have on expats, because of the retrospectivity.

Palaszczuk’s retrospective legislation and resulting unintended consequences

I now refer to the Palaszczuk led Queensland (QLD) Labor government and their Land Tax and Absentee Surcharge amendments in the 2017 Budget. They implemented retrospective legislation to capture the new Absentee surcharge backdated to the beginning of the financial year on 1 July 2016.

In other words, if you were outside Australia for more than 6 months before the legislation was passed, you were subject to the Absentee laws. Even if you did not even own the property yet, in the period you were overseas, they still regard you as an Absentee, and therefore still liable for the taxes.

There are many unintended consequences that have arisen as a result. Many people were caught unaware and have been financially devastated due to the extremely high taxes.

This is the absolute hypocrisy of the Labor governments and show that they cannot be trusted at all. Can Chris Bowen’s comments really be trusted as sincere concerns in the face of Premier Palaszczuk’s brutal and retrospective Land Tax & Absentee Surcharge laws?

What is Chris Bowen’s opinion on the retrospective QLD Land Tax and Absentee Surcharge on Australian citizens? And what does he think about the subsequent consequences of the amended laws? I would like to hear his comments.

It is more likely just a political point scoring attempt by Bowen with the hope/oversight there would be no policy link drawn between them.

Too late for many expats now already sold or selling their property as the deadline looms and selling opportunities reduce before proposed deadline

This is not to mitigate the Liberal government’s extremely poor form either with the way they have treated non-residents owning property as a Primary Residence, leaving them ‘hanging on a limb’ in a state of anxiety whilst still procrastinating over a Bill that is said to be most likely passed. The Australian Tax Office (ATO) believes so.

The deadline to sell your property is virtually ‘two minutes to midnight’. With the addition of falling clearance rates and a prolonged market downturn means that many have had to sell anyway.

Others like me are in the process of selling, already having outlaid thousands of dollars in preparation to sell. As a result, lives have been and are being up-heaved and disrupted.

If there were any reversal of Liberal’s proposed Bill from this point, it would be way too late for many of us. The damage has been done. This has been extremely poor treatment of Australian citizens, causing severe stress, both emotionally and financially. The negative repercussions for many are enormous.

It always seems to be the case that the governments in charge only focus on the revenue that can be raised and not the consequences. Or rather, they turn a blind eye to the latter. Both parties are guilty of this.

Friday 19 October 2018

ABC NEWS article "Expats could face large capital gains tax bills under proposed laws"

This is a good article published online 18 October 2018 by business reporter Nassim Khadem, displaying the outcry of expats and others abroad who have been impacted by the Federal Government's removal of CGT exemption to Primary Residences for non-residents.
This of course is a triple whammy for those who also own a Queensland property as a Primary Residence (1), and are also subject to the Land tax (2) & Absentee Surcharge (3).

The severe anxiety this must be causing many Australians is obvious and is described in the article. The Federal Government is still procrastinating on this legislation as it is yet to be formally passed in Parliament, but for many, they have already had to make decisions to sell.

In the article it states,
"Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen wrote to Scott Morrison when Mr Morrison was Treasurer saying that, while he supported the measure in principle, he was concerned about the "unintended consequences" it would have on expats, because of the retrospectivity."
- I find this hypocritical for Labor to state this when their State QLD Labor members did exactly this when they amended the Land Tax & Absentee Surcharge to tax Australian citizens, making it retrospective, plus causing severe negative unintended consequences. Chris Bowen should be having a serious talk to Palaszczuk.

Link to article is here: Expats could face large capital gains tax bills under proposed laws

To hold off selling now and hoping for any change will put many owners in a situation where they may not be able to sell their property in time before the deadline.

Also, the declining property market means that it is basically a case of selling now, because after the legislation is passed any property market upswing will be too late.

If Morrison was to back-flip on this legislation and scrap the changes, where does that leave those who have already sold up/in the process of selling?

It would be too late, having already caused financial losses, upheaval of living, retirement and working arrangements and causing others to have to invest the sales proceeds into riskier or lower income generating assets classes (for those relying on an income stream from investments).

Like the article describes, it also will have caused expats to abandon Australia, many of whom had decades of home ownership as well and had planned to return.

Personally, I am affected by both the Federal CGT exemption removal and the QLD LT&AS.

Friday 12 October 2018

Property Council of Australia graph comparing Absentee Surcharge Land tax rate to non-Absentee rate - massive difference

The Property Council of Australia released an article on its website 5 July 2017 that reveals a graph that outlines how the new absentee rate compares to the company, trust and absentee rate prior to the Budget as well as the resident (individual) land tax rate. As you can see the Absentee rate rises sharply as the land value rises disproportionately higher than the standard individual rate.
QLD Labor expected to raise $20 Million from Absentees in 2017/2018 financial year. 😡

ABSENTEE LAND TAX SURCHARGE TAKES EFFECT

                                                 Property Council of Australia - graph 
                                                                   Blue line - Individual (non-Absentee rate)
                                                                   Red line - Company, Trust and Absentee rate before July 2017
                                                                   Dotted red line - Absentee rate from 1 July with the added 1.5% surcharge


Non-resident status Australian citizens forced into risky investments & uncertainty after removal of Primary Residence CGT exemption.

Scott Morrison Malcolm Turnbull Liberal Party Australia CGT

Main Residence Capital Gains Tax exemption removed for Non-Residents Australian citizens thanks to the Liberal Government under Malcolm Turnbull and Treasurer Scott Morrison.


In the 2017–2018 Liberal National Party budget, Scott Morrison, the then Treasurer, announced a raft of changes to be implemented. The leadership of the Liberal Coalition at the time was being run by the now deposed Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

One of those changes that would cause severe repercussions upon Australian citizens abroad was the scrapping of the Primary Residence Capital Gains Tax exemption for Non-Residents.

Under the new law, any Australian citizen owning a property in Australia, regardless of how long they owned that property beforehand, if deemed a ‘non-resident’, will lose all Capital Gains Tax exemption when selling their property.

This new law does not take into account periods of previous ownership of property. Aussies who have for example spent a large portion of their lives in their family home, perhaps decades are not exempt.

For many retirees, they may decide to take off overseas for cost of living reasons, lifestyle, stay with other family and to enjoy their later years in another country, whilst renting out their property to help fund their self funded retirement life. It is in many cases a main income source and the sale of the property in the future will help secure survival and stability.

Others such as non-resident expats, may have taken up employment opportunities whilst keeping their family home to return to in the future.

As part of the Primary Residence requirements — non-residents, in fact any property owner who has nominated a property as a Primary Residence, was required to reside in that property every six years. This re-set the ‘clock’ again for another six years.

Under the now deposed Turnbull Prime Minister Leadership, the 2017 Budget has ruined the retirement plans of many non-residents/expats. It only requires one single ‘non-resident’ event to trigger that CGT exemption removal.

PROPERTIES A SAFE INVESTMENT FOR RETIREES — NO LONGER THE CASE

Properties have always been seen as a safe and solid investment class — a ‘bricks and mortar’ investment that is mostly low risk. It is a place to return to if needed and re-establish as your home, a place you can rent out and also to acquire capital growth over time.

Many owners have spent decades paying off mortgages to own their properties. Others have invested their life savings and Superannuation to secure a piece of property and land in their country.

What has happened now is those whose circumstances and freedom of choices have led them abroad for extended lengths of time to become a ‘non-resident’, are now left floundering in what is a huge quandary as to deal with the punitive changes implemented.

IMPLICATIONS:

Non-residents are now being forced to sell their property before the 2019 deadline date in order to still qualify for the CGT exemption. This is now one of the worst times to sell when the market is falling, putting those forced to sell at a massive disadvantage — potentially huge losses for non-residents. Decent Aussies forced to sell up and often losing their only property asset in Australia.
Non-residents who keep their property will now be subject to severe capital gains tax — that will be charged at the very high rate non-discount Foreign Resident Rate when they sell.
Yes that’s right, Australian citizens to be treated as Foreign Residents. This also means for those non-residents who die, their inheritance will also be subject to the same CGT that their beneficiaries will be charged with following the sale of the Estate.

Non-residents will need to abolish their offshore retirement and lifestyle dreams and return to Australia to re-establish residency status and mitigate the non-resident CGT period prior to selling.
For many this means resorting to the higher costs of living that they were trying to avoid, leaving friends, relationships, family, social network and any possible employment.

They will also often be resorting to a lower standard of life back in Australia due to cost of living pressures based on lower incomes. The psychological impacts are obvious with depression and despair at having to return to up-heave their lives to comply with a tax law and potential financial pressures.

Non-residents, upon the completion of the sale of their property before the 2019 deadline date now have the daunting task of having to somehow work out where else do they now invest the proceeds of the sale?
For many solely living off the cash proceeds of a sale will not see them through to their graves. This will cause many to then have to resort to riskier investment classes that are fraught with danger.

We are talking then about resorting to investments such as: into the share and currency markets, managed funds and other investment classes. Bank deposits will just not provide enough income stream. On top of all this are the obvious changes to tax implications and the inability for certain investments to not qualify for tax exemptions.

Non-residents who had previously set up their retirements based off financial advice and tax structuring around their property investment before the 2017 Budget, now have to unravel all of this.

On top of that will be the usual ruthless and often untrustworthy financial advisers and unscrupulous spruikers of various investment products that so many expats and retirees have had their lives ruined from before. The sharks will be circling to gouge the accounts of non-residents.

It is guaranteed that many non-residents/expats/retirees are going to be scammed and lose from this. It is inevitable that as a result this will cause severe psychological and medical problems and suicides from ruined lives.

Many non-residents who are retired/expats are also not financial savvy and only wanted to rely on their home/investment property for income. Many too old to now have to re-learn how to invest.

Many expats are now feeling the pain and pressure to sell. The question is why has Morrison and then Turnbull targeted a small minority of property owners who will have no impact on driving down housing prices.

All it is doing is causing stress and suffering and forcing many expats and retirees to offload their one solid link to Australia so as to apparently benefit someone else who can snap up their property for a bargain.

The other downside is that by losing a permanent place of abode in Australia, it causes the Australian Tax Office to determine easier that you are a permanent non-resident with no ties to Australia. This is problematic for those who may have only occasionally fallen into the non-resident category and trying to maintain residency status. Now it will be even harder to convince the ATO in the future.

It also means that Australian citizens returning from abroad who have been forced to sell their homes to avoid the full CGT, they will often not have a place to return to (unless they have family or friend who can put them up in a spare room temporarily etc).

They will be forced to seek accommodation if they can afford it. This will make many expats feel disenfranchised, betrayed and disconnected from Australia and may as a result decide to never return to Australia at all.

Queensland property owners — special note.

As my previous articles have already detailed, being an Australian Queensland property owner (with land value from $350,000), you are already restricted to only being allowed to be out of Australia for 6 months each financial year or face a massive annual Land Tax & Absentee Surcharge imposed by Premier Palaszczuk’s Labor Party. Therefore it is a trifecta of punitive measures to severely deplete your wealth, living and retirement prospects.

The combined effect just puts nails in the coffins for expats who are easy targets for heartless politicians, forcing massive loss of wealth and forcing people into financial and emotional distress with dire consequences.

I am afraid that the future of Australian politics and tax policies will probably only get worse for its citizens.

(Article also published on Medium Website)

Monday 8 October 2018


QLD Labor Government Palaszczuk 2017



As you may be aware, the Land Tax & Absentee Surcharge on Australian properties is applied in Victoria as well, however Australian (and NZ) citizens are exempt. In June 2015 a report (No, 1, 58th Parliament) was released titled 'Inquiry into the State Taxation Acts Amendment Bill 2015'. 


The inquiry was conducted at the Legislative Council by the Economic & Infrastructure Committee. The inquiry's intention was to look particularly at the likely impact of the Bill on housing supply & affordability. The Bill was passed.

So as to delve further into the reasoning for imposing the Land Tax & Absentee Surcharge on Australian citizens by the QLD Labor Government, I thought it helpful to see why Victoria imposed it upon Foreign investors.

_______________________________________________________________________________

The Bill's objective for creating the Absentee Surcharge was outlined in Part 4: 

"Foreign investors do not pay local taxes (such as GST or income tax) over an extended period of time. These taxes are used by governments to provide services (such as parks, public transport, schools, etc) which can affect the value of a property. Witnesses from the Department of Treasury and Finance indicated that the purpose of the proposed surcharge was to ensure that foreign buyers contributed to the provision of government services."

During the public hearings witness Mr Michael Brennan - Economic Deputy Secretary, explained the justification for the Absentee Surcharge, 

"It is largely about ensuring that foreign investors who gain the benefit of the capital appreciation and price growth, particularly pursuant to state government investment in services and infrastructure, pay their fair share for those things. It obviously does have some bearing on housing affordability.
Both surcharges aim to ensure that foreign buyers are contributing fairly to the provision of government services. In Victoria government services are obviously funded by a wide range of commonwealth and state own source revenue lines, and local property owners contribute to many of these tax bases over an extended period of time and therefore carry a greater weight of the tax burden required to develop and maintain government services. Conversely, foreign buyers of real estate are generally limited to property-based taxes such as land transfer duty, land tax and, at the commonwealth level, capital gains tax and any tax on income earned in Australia, which may well be limited." (page 12)

He later added, 
"Both of the surcharges aim to ensure that foreigners and temporary residents contribute a fairer share to the provision of services that increase their capital growth. To the extent that either surcharge corrects for the implicit transfer from local taxpayers to foreign investors, this may remove some of the incentives at the margin for foreign investors to buy residential property in Victoria, and it may make local Victorian buyers relatively more competitive in the housing market. There may be, for example, a reduction in incentives for foreign individuals purchasing single investment properties or temporary residents purchasing homes." (page 12)

And again, 
"Mr BRENNAN—As I said at the outset, it is important to remember that the primary motivation is essentially the equity motivation, so it is to ensure that when foreign investors are purchasing property in Victoria and thereby moving forward over the longer term and benefiting from the investments made in services and infrastructure via capital growth, that they are effectively paying a fair share of that potential capital upside. 
As I say, that is the primary motivation, so it is less about discouraging foreign investment as ensuring that where foreign investment occurs, the foreign investor is adequately paying for the benefit that they will receive." (page 13)

COMMENT:

It is clear that Queensland Labor under Palaszczuk have copied and pasted this 2015 justification for imposing the Land Tax & Absentee Surcharge in Victoria into their own explanation speech, used by Treasurer Curtis Pitt. But QLD Labor extended it to include Australian citizens.

As I have explained in previous postings/articles - this justification is flawed because of the FACT that most Australian citizens who are absentees DO contribute to local taxes in many forms.

Most Australian absentees are inextricably connected to Australia in other financial ways such as through Superannuation, savings accounts and other investments - through which they are paying taxes.
Australian absentees cannot be grouped into the same category as foreign investors, which is why the Victorian government sensibly, respectfully and ethically did not include them in their Land Tax & Absentee Surcharge.

In respect to Australian absentees, the Property Council of Australia's Executive Director Chris Mountford said, "In some circumstances, they are being punished for investing foreign-earned income back into Queensland" (See article in the Brisbane Times - I would never have invested into Queensland property ). 

This is further evidence of how Australian citizens are linked to and contributing to the Australian economy and paying taxes.

Hypocritically, The Queensland Labor Government under newly elected Palaszczuk in 2015 is alleged to have declared within a day of the Victorian government's announcement of their new taxes, words to the effect of "Come to Queensland; we are not going to impose this tax" (as stated by witness Craig Whatman - see page 37 of report). 

As we know, in 2 years time she back-flipped on that comment, already having deceptively luring in many unwary investors into the trap of buying into Queensland property. They were then stung with Palaszczuk's version of the retrospectively applied Land Tax and Absentee Surcharge. If this was a company it would be charged with fraud.

Sunday 7 October 2018

QLD Labor government Palaszczuk 2017 State Revenue

When you receive your Land Tax & Absentee Surcharge Notice, the next step is to object.
Here is the QLD Office of the State Revenue (OSR) Objection Form link - to use when you are dissatisfied with the decision or assessment (would be 100% of absentees).

QLD Office of State Revenue Objection form

Even if you feel your objection reasons are weak, I urge everyone to still lodge them. That way, the Treasury and other government departments are going to be made well aware of the anger and dissatisfaction of the current government.

Reasons that I have put forward I have listed below. I invite others to put forward their reasons too that would warrant an objection:

* The unconstitutional nature of this legislation;
* The injustice;
* Breach of economic Human Rights;
* Lack of foresight into the impact/consequences of this legislation;
* The unfair application of restrospectivity;
* Lack of scrutiny of legislation before it was passed;
* Zero warning to land holders before the budget,
* Financial and psychological hardship;
* Was medically unfit to fly back to Australia as per certificates;
* Disproportionate excessive charges;
* Undemocratic - 6 month curfew;

This is the link to the OSR website outlining the guidelines to lodging an objection:

QLD Treasury objection guidelines

I received a response to my lodgement from the OSR eventually, which of course rejected my objection. But it forced them to analyse and detail to me their reasons for the rejection. This may become evidentiary in some form in the future. It also ties up the Treasury (as they should be) with this issue.

Be mindful that although you lodge an objection, it does not postpone your liability to pay the LT&AS bill by the due date.
You also need to lodge the objection within 60 days of receiving the notice unless you can obtain approval for an extension of that time limit.

I would urge all as well though to request for time to pay the bill in installments, which you are entitled to do (unless of course you wish/need to pay it all before the end of a financial year for income tax purposes).

Saturday 6 October 2018

Queensland Labor’s Land Tax & Absentee Surcharge on Australian citizens — justification is a complete sham





(ARTICLE PUBLISHED ON MEDIUM WEBSITE 6 OCT 2018.  DUPLICATED HERE AS BACKUP)

In my previous articles I have expressed the injustice of Queensland Labor’s Land Tax and Absentee Surcharge implementation since the 2017 State Budget.

It is necessary however to further analyse the justification attempt made by QLD Labor’s Treasurer at the time Curtis Pitt, as to why they implemented the surcharge. Specifically, one needs to ask why were Australian citizens targeted?


Released to the public was a document titled “The Parliament of Queensland Revenue Legislation Amendment Bill 2017 Explanatory Speech”, that was “Circulated by the Authority of the Treasurer, Minister for Trade and Investment the Honourable Curtis Pitt, MP”

On page 6 of the document under the title of “Why are we doing this?”, the response given is:

The surcharge ensures absentee owners of land are making a fair contribution towards taxes that are used to deliver and maintain a high standard of services and infrastructure in Queensland. Absentee owners benefit, such as through the capital appreciation of their land holdings, from the high standard of services and infrastructure delivered and maintained by a broad range of taxes in Queensland generally borne by resident taxpayers.

“Fair Contribution towards taxes” —

Curtis Pitt indicates that Absentees are not making a fair contribution unless they are ‘resident taxpayers’.

So what is it that Absentees are not contributing?

Let’s firstly see what Absentees are contributing to. As a Queensland property owner, regardless of being an Absentee or a resident, there are a raft of taxes paid by both categories of people.

I will also include Commonwealth taxes — as the Queensland government, like every other State and Territory are given a slice of that revenue per annum as part of their budget allocation. These taxes are incorporated into the following:

* Council rates — the same is paid by both.

* Water & Sewer connection rates — the same is paid by both.

* Insurance — the same taxes apply to both — Home and Contents insurance as well as Landlord insurance.

* Property management fees (if investment property leased) — the same taxes apply to both. However, unlike a non-Absentee who may be able to self manage the property as the landlord, Absentees are employing local real estate agents overall; therefore contributing to the employment of local people and helping businesses thrive.

* Listing, letting, advertising fees (if leasing an investment property) — the same costs apply to both.
Income tax — the same is paid by both, unless the absentee is also classed by the Commonwealth tax law as a ‘non-resident’. In that case they pay more income tax on Australian derived income, with no tax-free threshold & at the Foreign Resident tax rate.

* Maintenance fees — the costs of employing trades-persons, replacing parts and equipment and/or repairs — the same costs apply to both in general. However, in many cases absentees are also contributing more to the employment of local QLD people as they cannot carry out repairs or replacements that they may have been able to do themselves — this pays for local QLD people’s wages and help their businesses thrive.

* Mortgage fees — which may or may not be distributed to local, interstate or national based financial institutions — but the same costs apply to both.

* Motor vehicle registration — Absentees who own a motor vehicle in Australia are most likely going to keep it registered, the same as a resident. They are both also more than likely going to also pay for motor vehicle & Greens Slip third party insurance.

* Good and Services Tax (GST) on all the above — the same costs apply to both.

No unfair advantage to Absentees owning QLD property — only disadvantages.

Unlike other investment classes — for example: shares that pay dividends, property does not offer any potential tax advantage to an Absentee who is also deemed as a non-resident. There are only disadvantages in respect to QLD taxes as well as Commonwealth taxes (you lose Capital Gains Tax exemptions and discounts as well as a higher CGT Foreign Resident Rate when selling the property)

The only non-contribution towards taxes that can be thought of would be those normally derived from:

* Electricity usage — residents would of course be paying for usage, however Absentees not wishing to be disconnected may keep an electricity account connected. Or, they may have other family or relations still residing in the property using and paying for electricity. Property investors would have tenants paying for this service regardless.

* Internet usage — residents would of course be paying for usage, however Absentees not wishing to be disconnected may keep an internet account connected. Or, they may have other family or relations still residing in the property using and paying for internet usage. Property investors would have tenants paying for this service regardless — if they chose that service.

* Telecommunication Service Providers (TSP) — Absentees may or may not still have connection to TSPs. Taxes collected would be GST.

* Tolls — taxes collected via motorway tolls — would only apply to those who own motor vehicles and who also use tollways. In many cases it would not be applicable residents anyway.

* Public transport — taxes collected via public transport services would only apply to those who use public transport.

* Shopping/spending locally — taxes collected by local businesses would be GST.

Those additional taxes possibly paid by QLD residents would not supersede the amount of additional taxes borne by an Absentee via the excessive Land Tax & Absentee Surcharges (LT&AS). The LT&AS is completely disproportionate.

Absentees are of course also paying taxes in the countries they are frequenting whilst out of Australia, meaning their personal burden of tax payments is amplified even more.

Shorter term Absentees are even worse off than longer term in respect to QLD taxes.

Taxes are even more disproportionate for those Absentees who are only absent from Australia for a period just over the 6 month time frame. Because the legislation is framed around a 6 month absentee period within a financial year, if one was to return to Queensland (or other State or Territory for that matter)just over the 6 month period, you would be paying additional local taxes as well. Shorter term absentees are hit with even more QLD taxes than anyone.

Absentees represent a small population and therefore overall would not contribute significantly to the QLD economy.

Property owners who reside interstate.

There are Queensland property owners who are not Queensland residents, but live interstate when back in Australia. Therefore, regardless of whether they were in Australia or not, they would not be contributing any further to Queensland tax revenue.

The flip-side of that argument also stands true in that there are Queensland residents who also own property outside Queensland, who do not contribute any further to that State or Territory’s tax revenue. But in that case, if they are Absentees, they do not pay an Absentee Surcharge and the reduced tax-free threshold of Land Tax — because QLD is the only State in Australia to apply this to Australian citizens.

Benefiting from capital appreciation of land holdings due to high standard of services and infrastructure delivered and maintained — argument.

This argument that Labor uses to further justify the LT&AS is also flawed. Absentees, as I have demonstrated, pay much higher taxes overall that are disproportionate to what residents pay.

Services (such as public transport and government offices) and infrastructure are not necessarily provided and built near each land holding either. There are many properties that do not benefit at all and will not appreciate in value.

Appreciated value of land holdings not proportionate to market values.

Based on my personal circumstance and the opinions of two experienced local property agents, it has been demonstrated that the capital appreciation of a property is not proportionate to the ratio of increased land valuations.

Land valuations are made by the Department of Natural Resources and Mines (DNRM) under the Land Valuation Act 2010. The LT&AS is are either based off a three year average or a State average calculation.

When adding the increased amended land value to the purchase price, it becomes apparent that the retail market value of the property does not appreciate at the same ratio. So, although my property has seen significant land valuation increases over the last three years, the market value of my property has barely moved. The increased market value falls well short of the combined overall costs incurred from purchasing the property (including more taxes), renovations,buyer’s agent fees and ongoing costs. The LT&AS adds to the shortfall.

The ‘broad range of taxes’, that are ‘generally borne by resident taxpayers’ are on the whole also borne by Absentees who are Australian residents. Even non-Australian Absentees (foreign residents) are paying usual local QLD taxes to hold their properties. Both resident and Aussie Absentee property owners are holding the ‘tax torch’. But Absentees are taking on a greater burden.

The LT&AS year-on-year increases are so extreme that they cause immediate financial hardship to many Absentees. This unfairly disadvantages them with financial and psychological distress. The repercussions of that are obvious with forced early sales of properties as they become unsustainable to hold and health problems.

One can draw the conclusion that the real reasons behind implementing the LT&AS upon Australian citizen absentees, is because they represent a small population compared to the population of unaffected Queensland citizens and therefore do not pose an election risk.

Many Australian citizen absentees may only be charged the LT&AS once due to an extended stay overseas, so it is an easy cash grab from them and unlikely to cause too much fuss.

Others who remain absentees are mostly disenfranchised due to their location and lack of ability for absentees to become a collective voice to object to the injustice and unfairness of these punitive taxes. Australian citizen absentees are an easy target.

Page 8 of the Explanatory Speech document also answers a question ‘Will Queenslanders working overseas be subject to surcharge?’. Pitt in his explanation focuses on the small minority entitled to the limited exemption, critically failing to highlight the fact that most Queenslanders working overseas will be affected. QLD Labor obviously did not wish to expose the negative impacts.

The spiel used that Pitt and others use to justify the LT&AS is complete rubbish and used to hoodwink the general public into believing their rhetoric. Shame on the Palaszczuk Queensland Labor Government.

A $1 billion hit to the Queensland budget as property market slides

A $1 billion hit to the Queensland budget as property market slides A $1 billion hit to the Queensland budget as property market slides