Perspective on stamp duty

Professionals Real Estate Group believes there should be a more affordable stamp duty system where all property buyers are treated more fairly.
In particular, the current structure of stamp duty rates present a major financial penalty for property buyers wanting to upgrade their homes in Perth.
For example, if you are buying a home for around $700,000 you would pay over $27,000. During the last year, there were over 4,000 homes sold in Perth for at least $750,000.
Over time, the number of people paying this exorbitant level of tax will only increase due to price inflation in the property market.
This is a grossly unfair tax as current stamp duty rates financially penalise West Australians who want to improve their standard of living by upgrading their home.
When the GST was introduced, it was planned that stamp duty would be phased out. Other countries such as New Zealand do not have this on property.
In an ideal world, this should have been abolished on property transactions in Australia a long time ago. However, we do not live in an ideal world and it is a more realistic proposition to expect government to reduce their reliance on this as a source of revenue.
Professionals believe that there needs to be major cuts in the rate of stamp duty payable for homes in Perth. For example, on a property priced at around $700,000 the rate of stamp duty should be at least halved.
Professionals have over 60 offices throughout metropolitan and regional Western Australia.
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