Carbon Tax repeal; a good thing for property?

The passing of the legislation repealing the carbon tax this m month has been welcomed by the Housing Industry Association, who say they have been vocally opposed to the tax since its creation.

HIA chief executive industry policy and media, Graham Wolfe, said that it is a barrier for the industry. Previously, they had called on the government to scrap it, calling it a “bad tax”, and asking for transparency over the costs added to a new home.

“HIA has advocated against the carbon tax since its inception, as it represents yet another impost on one of the most heavily taxed sectors in the economy,” said Wolfe.

“The repeal of the tax was a key part of HIA’s 2013 federal election platform to help revive the housing industry.”

He noted that it has had direct impact on energy production costs, which in turn had a flow-through effect onto manufacturing and fabrication phases for building material, product and assembly production.

Wolfe says that this drove up the prices of new homes, through manufacturing, jobs and material input costs.

In 2011, they had estimated the additional cost to a new home at $6,000.

However, Stockland had said that the additional costs would be closer to $2,500 – or just 0.6% of their house and land packages.

(Source: Property Observer)

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