The battle lines are being drawn on housing, with Labor Party today set to add new measures to its housing package including a proposed federal tax on vacant properties and a ban on self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs) being able to borrow money to fund property purchases. Such a ban was recommended by David Murray in the Financial System Inquiry in 2014, and it has also been espoused by the RBA. From The AFR:
The new measures will include adopting a nationally consistent Vacant Residential Property Tax, as recently imposed by the Victorian government, to curb the practice of land banking, in which investors buy properties and leave them vacant. Mr Shorten said he would sit down with the states and develop a nationwide tax.
