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A recent survey has indicated that the majority of Australians believe the greatest assistance the government could give to the property market would be to abolish stamp duty.
In a poll conducted by leading online property agency iBuyNew, in which participants were asked “What would be the best way for government to assist the property market?”, 55 per cent of respondents said cutting stamp duty is the answer.
Almost one third of participants in the online survey suggested increasing first home buyer grants would be most effective, while 15 per cent called for negative gearing to be scrapped.
iBuyNew CEO Mark Mendel said most governments remain over-reliant on stamp duty.
“State governments still have an unhealthy dependence on stamp duty, which is just a drag on the economy and a handbrake on home buyers,” he said.
“If governments are not prepared to abolish stamp duty, they should at least consider reductions or more concessions for certain buyers.”
Mr Mendel said greedy state governments have also been behaving badly by slugging foreign investors with excessive new surcharges and tax increases.
“Foreigners buying property in Australia should be paying some tax, but the measures that were recently announced by the NSW, Victorian and Queensland governments were over the top,” he said.
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