Book 8 - Parliament of Victoria

STATE TAXATION ACTS AMENDMENT BILL 2011
Thursday, 2 June 2011 COUNCIL 1733
compatibility with respect to the State Taxation Acts
Amendment Bill 2011.
In my opinion, the State Taxation Acts Amendment Bill 2011
(bill), as introduced to the Legislative Council, is compatible
with the human rights protected by the charter act. I base my
opinion on the reasons outlined in this statement.
Overview of bill
The purpose of this bill is to amend the Duties Act 2000
(duties act), the First Home Owner Grant Act 2000 (FHOG
act), the Taxation Administration Act 1997 (TA act) and the
Payroll Tax Act 2007 (payroll tax act) to enact the
government’s state taxation election commitments and a
number of general measures aimed at updating the laws
administered by the commissioner of state revenue
(commissioner) in accordance with best practice tax
administration.
In accordance with the government’s state taxation election
commitments, this bill amends the Duties Act to reduce the
amount of duty payable by first home buyers, extends the
concession card duty exemption and concession to holders of
commonwealth seniors health cards and increases the
threshold for the concession from $440 000 to $750 000, and
provides a new duty exemption and concession to young
farmers on the purchase of their first farmland property. In
addition, the bill amends the FHOG act to maintain the first
home bonus and first home regional bonus for newly
constructed homes until 30 June 2012.
This bill also makes a number of general amendments to laws
that are administered by the commissioner.
The FHOG act is amended to increase penalties for particular
offences under that charter act and broaden the scope of the
offence for providing false and misleading information in or
in connection with an application for the first home owner
grant.
The TA act is amended to establish a framework for
assessments to be deemed to be made and served by the
commissioner where duty is paid online.
Finally, the payroll tax act is amended to replace outdated
references to commonwealth legislation in relation to
employee share schemes.
Human rights issues
The bill engages the following human rights protected by the
charter act:
recognition and equality before the law;
freedom of expression;
the presumption of innocence.
The impact of the bill upon each of these rights is discussed in
turn below.
Human rights protected by the charter act that are relevant
to the bill
Recognition and equality before the law
Section 8(3) of the charter act provides that every person is
equal before the law and is entitled to equal protection of the
law without discrimination. Discrimination, in relation to a
person, means discrimination within the meaning of the Equal
Opportunity Act 1995 on the basis of an attribute set out in
section 6 of that act.
Clause 12 of this bill deals with who is an ‘eligible pensioner’
for the purposes of the concession card holders’ duty
concession. This clause amends the Duties Act to introduce a
new category of eligible concession card that permits access
to this benefit. The new eligible concession card is the
commonwealth seniors health card issued under the Social
Security Act 1991 (cth). Qualification for the commonwealth
seniors health card is dependent upon a person’s age. ‘Age’ is
a specified attribute under section 6 of the Equal Opportunity
Act 1995. Therefore, this amendment engages section 8
because it creates a law that limits access to this benefit on the
basis of qualification for the commonwealth seniors health
card which requires a person to be at least over 60 years of
age.
On the balance, however, the limitations upon this right are
reasonable and justifiable in a democratic society for the
purposes of section 7(2) of the charter act, having regard to
the factors set out below.
(a) What is the nature of the right being limited?
The prohibition on discrimination is one of the cornerstones
of human rights instruments and this is reflected in the
preamble to the charter act. However, as with all rights
protected by the charter act, the section 8 right to equality
before the law may be subject to reasonable limitations,
pursuant to section 7 of the charter act.
(b) What is the importance of the purpose of the limitation?
Currently, the legislation provides a concession or duty
exemption for Victorians who are ‘eligible pensioners’. The
amendment will expand the category of people who are
eligible to receive the concession or exemption to include
holders of a commonwealth seniors health card issued under
the Social Security Act 1991 (cth). The purpose of this is to
ensure self-funded retirees are also eligible for the concession
or duty exemption.
The purpose of the differential treatment is to ensure that
older Victorians that qualify for a concession card can afford
to downsize their homes. This limitation is important because
it will help older Victorians access suitable accommodation
within the communities in which they have formed
connections and attachments, where they may not otherwise
have been able to afford to do so.
(c) What is the nature and extent of the limitation?
Seniors who hold the required concession card will now be
entitled to a duty exemption or concession resulting in less
stamp duty being payable on the purchase of a principal place
of residence. However, the exemption or concession is
available only once in a person’s lifetime, and access to the
benefit is subject to a number of other eligibility criteria,
including that the property purchased must not exceed
$750 000.