this post was submitted on 10 Dec 2023
847 points (99.2% liked)

World News

39032 readers
3419 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] hitmyspot@aussie.zone 17 points 11 months ago (2 children)

How many properties are currently affected by this? 6 times the taxes is mentioned, but how much is that per property and in total? It's odd. This is the second time I've seen this story and that relevant information is missing in each one. It reads more like a government press release to make it look like they are doing something but it's window dressing only. We need structural reform in housing. Not just in Australia, but worldwide. It's a necessity, not an asset.

[–] tristan@aussie.zone 11 points 11 months ago (1 children)

It's an ongoing fee. The initial fee is raised by 3 times, and if the property is empty for more than 6 months of the year, they are charged twice the fee (so 6 times what the fee currently is, which starts at $13200aud and is up to $105600aud depending on the value of the property)

This means it will cost tens of thousands of dollars up to hundreds of thousands of dollars, each year, to leave it empty over half the year

[–] p0windah@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago

Yeah. The article doesn't go into details whether vacancy is self reported and what enforcement looks like.

The cynic in me says this is a great political policy, but something foreign investors will sidestep with minimal effort.

Is it based on water consumption? Leave a tap dripping.

Is it based on electricity consumption? Leave a light on.

Is it based on garbage being collected? A friend takes your bins out once every couple of months.

I want these policies to work to better support Australians with more housing options, but I'm not convinced this is enough.