I
Wednesday, February 28, 1973
STAMP DUTY CONCESSIONS PROPOSED BY FINANCIAL SECRETARY
Relief For Buyers Of Low Value Properties
Several concessions on stamp duties, including those charged on
the purchase of low valued properties and on various documents, were
proposed by the Financial Secretary, the Hon. C.P. Haddon-Cave, in his
Budget speech today.
To encourage home ownership, properties between $75,000 and
$150,000 would be liable to only one per cent of the two per cent standard
Stamp Duty rate with effect from April 1.
This would bring about 83 per cent of all current sales of low
value properties into the ambit of the concession, and cost the Government
$22.5 million in revenue.
Citing an example, the Financial Secretary said that a buyer of
a flat selling today for $70,000 would pay only the nominal duty of $20 instead
of $1,400, while a person buying a flat for $140,000 would pay $1,400 instead
of $2,800.
He recalled that in 1967 the standard rate of two per cent was
waived for properties of $20,000, and halved for properties of $20,000
or over but under $40,000.
"With higher property prices this concession has become largely
inoperative and yet, by and large, the purchasers of these properties are
in the same lower income range as before, albeit with higher incomes, " he said.
He added that whereas 76 per cent of properties on the market in
1967 were priced at $40,000 or less only 2.3 per cent were priced at this
amount last year.
The Financial .....