Hon Martin Aldridge questions the Treasurer on the allocation of revenue from the foreign buyers surcharge, specifically regarding TAFE fee freezes and budget repair. The Treasurer provides a breakdown of the revenue allocation and references budget papers and a report on the surcharge's economic impact.

AnsweredQoN 669Legislative Council
Asked
23 August 2018
Portfolio
minister representing the Treasurer

QuestionView source ↗

FOREIGN BUYERS SURCHARGE
669. Hon MARTIN ALDRIDGE to the minister representing the
Treasurer:
I refer to the government's
proposed seven per cent foreign buyers surcharge and the estimated $123 million
expected to be raised by the surcharge from 2018–19 to 2021–22.
(1) How much of
the $123 million will be used to freeze TAFE fees? Please provide a year-by-year
breakdown to 2021–22.
(2) What is the
remaining amount and what is planned for this revenue? Please provide a year-by-year
breakdown to 2021–22.
(3) Will the
Treasurer table all modelling undertaken for this tax increase?

AnswerView source ↗

I thank the
honourable member for some notice of the question.
(1) Over the
period from 2018–19 to 2021–22, an estimated $22 million will
be used to freeze TAFE fees over the 2018 to 2021 training years. The estimated
breakdown is $2 million in 2018–19, $7 million in 2019–20, $9
million in 2020–21 and $5 million in 2021–22.
(2) The remaining
revenue raised will be used for budget repair. The estimated breakdown is $8 million
in 2018–19, $28 million in 2019–20, $29 million in 2020–21
and $35 million in 2021–22.
(3) The results
of Treasury's financial modelling are reported in the 2017–18
and 2018–19 budget papers. Given the surcharge will apply to only an
estimated 1.26 per cent of residential property transactions, it is expected to
have minimal economic impact. This was confirmed in a 2017 Acil Allen report
commissioned by the Property Council of Australia, which noted that the impact
of foreign buyers on property prices is equivalent to a rounding error.

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