The Australian’s Judith Sloan believes that NSW’s proposed stamp duty reforms have little chance of seeing the light of day and will soon be scrapped:
It [stamp duty reform] ain’t going to happen in NSW any time soon – or anywhere else in Australia, for that matter. It’s just too expensive, the effects are too uncertain, including on housing affordability, and the politics are potentially toxic…
Fast-forward to now and the reforming treasurer has become Premier. He seems to have gone cold on the (partial) abolition of stamp duties, claiming such a move would not guarantee improved housing affordability. This lack of enthusiasm is shared by newly installed state Treasurer Matt Kean. While claiming “stamp duty is an inherently terrible tax”, Perrottet now thinks the tax switch probably needs to be done at the national level…
