Land tax loses out
The tax on land development that was the 'planning gain supplement' is no more.
The PGS idea is to be dropped in favour of a 'roof tax', which is a more proportionate measure, but still has its own problems. This is a significant win for those companies and organisations that have lobbied against the proposal all year.
The announcement in the Pre-Budget Report last month confirmed what had been suspected since the summer: that the Government finally accepted the argument that such a tax would slow down economic development due to the deterrence it would instill in companies.