Economist weighs in on call to replace stamp duty with annual land taxes

New research from the federal government suggests scrapping stamp duty and introducing annual land tax in its place would benefit economies and home buyers by encouraging people to move house more often.

The report from the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation reveals most home buyers across the country would benefit from the move.

But economist at the University of Melbourne, Associate Professor Neville Norman, thinks it’s “very unlikely” the change will happen.

“It depends on whether or not they’re going to take the heroic step of increasing land tax to all property,” he told Ross and Russel.

“That would be a great revenue raiser and probably kill the political ambition of any politician who suggested it, because the working rule in Australia is you don’t tax the family home.

“I can’t see that there’s much point in this unless they do it as a significant increase in revenue.”

Press PLAY below to hear more of Associate Professor Norman’s thoughts on the idea