❓ A parliamentary question addresses the low uptake of land tax relief grants for commercial landlords during COVID-19, with the government attributing it to WA's strong economic recovery. Funds were reallocated to other COVID-19 support initiatives and consolidated revenue.
AnsweredQoN 989Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
LAND TAX RELIEF GRANTS —
COMMERCIAL LANDLORDS
989. Hon Dr STEVE THOMAS to the minister representing the
Treasurer:
I refer to the Auditor General
report of 20 October 2021 titled Roll-out of state COVID-19 stimulus
initiatives: July 2020–March 2021 , which identified that only two
per cent of the $100 million allocation for land tax relief grants for
commercial landlords providing rent relief had been rolled out by 31 March
2021.
(1) What was the eligibility
criteria for accessing the land tax relief grants and who determined that
criteria?
(2) How many applications for land tax relief grants
from commercial landlords were received by the department in the
application period?
(3) How many grant applications
were successful and how many were rejected?
(4) As a result
of the low allocation to this program, has the remaining unspent allocation of
$97 507 000 been redirected to another program or returned to consolidated
revenue?
(5) Will the minister take
responsibility for this failed COVID-19 stimulus initiative; and, if not, why
not?
COMMERCIAL LANDLORDS
989. Hon Dr STEVE THOMAS to the minister representing the
Treasurer:
I refer to the Auditor General
report of 20 October 2021 titled Roll-out of state COVID-19 stimulus
initiatives: July 2020–March 2021 , which identified that only two
per cent of the $100 million allocation for land tax relief grants for
commercial landlords providing rent relief had been rolled out by 31 March
2021.
(1) What was the eligibility
criteria for accessing the land tax relief grants and who determined that
criteria?
(2) How many applications for land tax relief grants
from commercial landlords were received by the department in the
application period?
(3) How many grant applications
were successful and how many were rejected?
(4) As a result
of the low allocation to this program, has the remaining unspent allocation of
$97 507 000 been redirected to another program or returned to consolidated
revenue?
(5) Will the minister take
responsibility for this failed COVID-19 stimulus initiative; and, if not, why
not?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the Leader of the
Opposition for some notice of the question. I note it is not even Thursday and
the funny questions are coming out! The following answer has been provided on
behalf of the Treasurer.
(1) The
eligibility criteria required that the commercial landlord waive the rent of a tenant
for three months or equivalent in each qualifying period, starting from a date
between 1 March 2020 and 31 August 2020 for the first round, and 1 September
2020 and 31 December 2020 for the second round. Each tenant must be a small
business that has experienced at least a 30 per cent drop in turnover due to
the impact of COVID-19. Each property included in the application must be
valued at $300 000 or more at unimproved value or be subject to land tax.
Landlords must not seek to recover the waived rent during or at the end of the
three-month period and must not increase any outgoing charges for a period of
six months, and there must be a valid tenancy agreement in place.
(2) Over both rounds of the
program, 640 applications were received.
(3) Of those applications, 502 were
successful, 101 were not approved and 37 were withdrawn.
(4) An allocation
of $75 million was relocated to the COVID-19 industry support fund for a range
of other targeted industry initiatives and $22 million was returned to
consolidated revenue. This has provided a small fraction of the McGowan
government's $9 billion in COVID-19 response measures to ensure our
frontline services are well resourced to respond to the pandemic, support
businesses and households and boost our economic recovery.
(5) The low uptake of the program is a result of the
state government's proactive management of the COVID-19 pandemic
and the strong economic recovery Western Australia has been able to secure. As a
result, Western Australia has had some of the best conditions for small
businesses in the country, allowing many to return to normal conditions
quickly.
Opposition for some notice of the question. I note it is not even Thursday and
the funny questions are coming out! The following answer has been provided on
behalf of the Treasurer.
(1) The
eligibility criteria required that the commercial landlord waive the rent of a tenant
for three months or equivalent in each qualifying period, starting from a date
between 1 March 2020 and 31 August 2020 for the first round, and 1 September
2020 and 31 December 2020 for the second round. Each tenant must be a small
business that has experienced at least a 30 per cent drop in turnover due to
the impact of COVID-19. Each property included in the application must be
valued at $300 000 or more at unimproved value or be subject to land tax.
Landlords must not seek to recover the waived rent during or at the end of the
three-month period and must not increase any outgoing charges for a period of
six months, and there must be a valid tenancy agreement in place.
(2) Over both rounds of the
program, 640 applications were received.
(3) Of those applications, 502 were
successful, 101 were not approved and 37 were withdrawn.
(4) An allocation
of $75 million was relocated to the COVID-19 industry support fund for a range
of other targeted industry initiatives and $22 million was returned to
consolidated revenue. This has provided a small fraction of the McGowan
government's $9 billion in COVID-19 response measures to ensure our
frontline services are well resourced to respond to the pandemic, support
businesses and households and boost our economic recovery.
(5) The low uptake of the program is a result of the
state government's proactive management of the COVID-19 pandemic
and the strong economic recovery Western Australia has been able to secure. As a
result, Western Australia has had some of the best conditions for small
businesses in the country, allowing many to return to normal conditions
quickly.
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