Shadow Minister for Regional Development, Peter Walsh, has declared he is finally lost for words at the number of ways Premier Daniel Andrews can “rip off regional Victoria”.
Mr Walsh said the tax on short-stay accommodation such as Airbnb or Stayz is the broke Andrews Labor government’s latest desperate cash grab.
Almost half of Victoria’s 36,000 short-stay accommodation properties are in regional Victoria.
Mr Walsh said today’s announcement of Australia’s first Holiday and Tourism Tax had an “expected sting in the tail” and the numbers didn’t add up for regional Victorians.
“Half the short-stay properties about to be slugged another 7.5 per cent of their platform’s revenue are in regional areas, and all the revenue raised from this latest tax will go to Homes Victoria for more social housing.
“But only 25 per cent of the money squeezed out of short-stay accommodation will be re-invested in regional Victoria’s social housing.
“Where in any world does this add up – regional Victoria pays for 50 per cent of construction but only gets tossed a meagre 25 per cent of the outcomes.
“This isn’t a fair and equitable tax; this is highway robbery by a crooked government.”
Mr Walsh said Victoria is being punished by the Andrews Labor Government’s fiscal incompetence, not to mention the 50 taxes it has imposed since completely ignoring a pre-election promise to have no new taxes.
He said social housing is just as critical in regional Victoria as it is for the Premier to hand out to people in the city.
“If Daniel Andrews had not wasted more than $10 billion in budget overruns and outrageous pay deals for his union cronies, that money could have built 20,000 $500,000 homes without asking anyone for another cent in taxes,” he said.
