Page 1408 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 11 August 1992
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MS SZUTY: Madam Speaker, I ask for leave to present two petitions which do not conform with standing orders as they do not contain requests.
Leave granted.
MS SZUTY: I present two out-of-order petitions from 14 and 102 residents concerning the banning of circuses and the cessation of podiatric services at Weston Creek, respectively.
QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
Land Tax
MR KAINE: I would like to address to the Chief Minister and Treasurer a question in connection with land tax. Madam Speaker, the Chief Minister and Treasurer, only last Friday, 7 August, noted in a press statement that there were clear anomalies in the law relating to land tax. I submit that that is a fact that has been known to everybody else for months. Given that she made her announcement only eight days before payments on this year's land tax were to fall due, I think it is reasonable to ask: When did the Government first become aware that there are serious anomalies in this Act?
MS FOLLETT: I thank Mr Kaine for the question, and I thank him for drawing attention also to the fact that I have taken action on the land tax. I have taken that action in response to representations that I have received from constituents. Madam Speaker, I think it is fair to say that the bulk of representations I have received have been received recently; in other words, in recent weeks, at a time when the due date for land tax payment was drawing near. I take Mr Kaine's point that the amendments that I have made were made quite close to the date when that tax was due. But, I repeat, most of the people who had a complaint to make about their liability for land tax in fact made it as the date drew near, and I do not think that is an unusual situation.
I would like to say, Madam Speaker, that I did announce a number of amendments to the land tax arrangements, and those amendments were made in order to eliminate what did appear to be anomalies in the legislation as it stood. I think members would appreciate that it is very difficult indeed for a piece of legislation, particularly a piece of taxation legislation, not to have some perhaps unintended consequences. It is a fact that every individual has a different set of circumstances; that individuals who own property in fact are as representative of the whole community as individuals in any other circumstances. So, it is a very difficult matter indeed to take into account every individual's circumstances.
I think it is also appropriate to say that the Government should not act hastily to take action on these matters, and we have not done that. It is up to individuals, of course, to arrange their tax affairs to minimise their liabilities, and many of them have done so; but I do not want a situation to arise where some taxpayers are able to minimise their liabilities whilst others, of course, continue to be liable for the tax. So, it is a matter that governments have constantly under review. I think we have taken appropriate and responsible action in making the amendments to rule out anomalies which did appear to be genuine, and, indeed, we will keep the land tax legislation under review, as we do all such legislation, to ensure that it does not have unintended consequences.
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