Page 208 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 6 March 2007
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address the rollover of appropriations and the payment of accrued employee entitlements. The Revenue Legislation Amendment Bill 2007 will ensure administrative efficiencies, clarify current practices and protect revenue. It will amend the Duties Act, the Land Tax Act, the Payroll Tax Act and the Rates Act. On the whole, these amendments will have no significant revenue impact but are required to clarify the operation of the current provisions and to correct minor errors and omissions in the legislation.
The government will also introduce additional measures in the Duties Amendment Bill to prevent opportunities for avoidance of the “land rich” duty provisions. “Land rich” duty is imposed where control of land is acquired through the transfer of units or shares in certain landholding entities, rather than the transfer of the title of the land. Under the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Reform of Commonwealth-State Financial Relations, many state taxes have been removed or are scheduled for removal. After these taxes are ceased, a large percentage of the ACT’s own source revenue will be derived from land-based taxes, including “land rich” duty. Amendments to the “land rich” duty provisions contained in chapter 3 of the Duties Act 1999 will ensure the protection of the ACT’s remaining revenue base.
Priority will also be given to modernising the legislative platform that regulates the ACT compulsory third party insurance scheme. The core components of the existing legislation date from 1948. It is necessary to bring the legislation into the 21st century and to provide ACT citizens with a more robust piece of legislation that takes account of a number of changes in the regulatory frameworks in the other open market states. The amendments will involve changes to the basic statutory definitions—for instance, vehicle, motor accident and third party policy, alignment of vehicle classification with New South Wales, and the introduction of early intervention and rehabilitation strategies by insurers similar to those in the ACT workers compensation scheme. Legislation will also be brought forward to amend the Government Procurement Act to give effect to government decisions on the review of the act.
To remove duplication and reduce overheads, an Office of Regulatory Services was created in the 2006-07 budget within the Department of Justice and Community Safety. The functions and powers of a number of ACT regulatory offices will therefore be merged, including the Office of Fair Trading, the Registrar-General’s Office and ACT WorkCover. The government has also decided that the Office of Regulatory Services will assume responsibility for tobacco licensing and smoke-free regulation, approvals and administration of a range of business activities involving the use of public land, the licensing and regulatory responsibilities of the Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission, and regulatory activities relating to parking operations. Flowing on from a consolidation of these regulatory agencies and their functions and powers into one central regulatory services office, the introduction of the Office of Regulatory Services Legislation Bill 2007 will provide the legislative framework for the new office. It will administer and enforce the respective legislation of the merged regulatory agencies.
Other legal reform legislation includes a review of tribunal structures, with a view to increasing the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of ACT tribunals. The tribunals amendment bill will improve the structure of ACT tribunals, ensuring that Canberrans have access to a tribunal system that is modern, accessible and cost effective.
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