I rise to make a contribution to the debate on the State Taxation Acts Further
Amendment Bill 2008. The bill is divided into six parts and makes amendments to
a number of acts.
It amends the Duties Act 2000, the Livestock Disease Control
Act 1994, the First Home Owner Grant Act 2000 and the Taxation Administration
Act 1997.
The first part of this six-part amendment bill addresses the
operative dates, which are different for different areas. For example, the first
home owner boost payment will commence from the date of its announcement, which
was 14 October 2008. The amendments to livestock duty in the Duties Act and the
Livestock Disease Control Act will come into operation on various dates: the
provisions relating to the administration of livestock duty will come into
operation on 1 January 2009, while the abolition of livestock duty stamps will
take effect from 1 July 2009.
Part 2 makes amendments to the Duties Act 2000 which are aimed
at modernising the administration of livestock duty.
It makes technical amendments to the sub-sales tax provisions
to provide clarification for practitioners and taxpayers and to better align the
provisions with the underlying policy objective. It also clarifies the scope of
the exemption for transfer to bare trustees and expands the scope of exemption
available for homeowners who enter into an equity release program.
Part 3 amends the First Home Owner Grant Act 2000. The
amendments introduce the boost, which is a federally funded grant to first home
buyers who enter into contracts between 14 October 2008 and 30 June 2009. The
bill enables the Brumby government to administer that grant scheme. The bill
also makes general amendments to the extension of the five-year limit on the
power of the commissioner of state revenue to vary a decision on the first home
owner grant where the applicant has not made a full and true disclosure of the
relevant facts.
It also strengthens the privacy provisions relating to the
scheme and provides objection rights to the commissioner’s decision to impose a
penalty when a grant is reversed.
Part 4 of the bill amends the Livestock Disease Control Act. It
modernises the administration of livestock duty and reduces red tape for both
livestock owners and agents.
Part 5 addresses the Taxation Administration Act 1997. This is
particularly important because it provides that where one agency holds
information that impacts directly on the ability of another agency to fulfil its
statutory declarations, it is in the public interest that such information be
shared.
An example of this is the provision of information in relation
to the State Revenue Office’s tax laws to VicRoads, the Business Licensing
Authority and the Secretary of the Department of Primary Industries. It enables
various agencies to gain information and collect what is owed to those agencies.
Part 6 enables the repealing of an amending act. It is an
automatic repeal of this amending act on the first anniversary day on which all
its provisions are in operation. As suggested by the Scrutiny of Acts and
Regulations Committee, all amending acts now contain an automatic repeal
provision, which will save the time and expense of having to repeal amending
acts in statute law revision bills. On that fairly succinct and streamlined
contribution, I commend this bill to the house.