Several flawed land tax assessments across the Latrobe Valley have prompted The Nationals’ Member for Morwell, Martin Cameron, to call for an investigation.
Mr Cameron said dozens of residents and small businesses had contacted his office in recent months to highlight errors in their land tax assessments which contain “stacked” land valuations.
“I’ve written to the Minister for Planning several times and asked how the Valuer-General can possibly claim that single parcels of land, without any capital improvements, have more than doubled in value in the space of a year,” Mr Cameron said.
“This isn’t an isolated incident either – I’ve been contacted by dozens of residents and small business owners who are being slugged thousands in land tax, all based on outrageous land valuations.
“Worse than this is the fact that I’ve highlighted these clear errors to the Minister, and instead of correcting them she has put the onus on the landholder by claiming they ‘have the opportunity to object’.
“Worse again is the fact people are being forced to cough up the money to pay their land tax bill based on wrong valuations, then lodge a formal objection, and hope they might get some of their hard-earned money back.
“This money should have never left the landowners’ pockets in the first place.
“Rather than accepting responsibility for repairing its stacked land tax regime, the Allan Labor Government is once again shifting the burden to hard-working Victorians.
“This is a brazen and blatant cash-grab by Labor as part of its land tax regime – all because it’s in such a financial mess that it’s headed towards a state debt of $186 billion.
“We need a formal investigation into land tax assessments to ensure that hard-working Victorians don’t continue to be unfairly slugged because of Labor’s incompetence.
“Labor can’t manage money, and Victorians are paying the price.”
If you have received a Land Tax Assessment Notice and have questions about the land valuation, contact Mr Cameron’s office via email: martin.cameron@parliament.vic.gov.au
