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SA Liberals pledge to scrap stamp duty if elected
The opposition party has branded transfer duty as “inefficient” and pledged to phase it out by 2041.
South Australia’s Liberal Party has committed to phasing out stamp duty by 2041, beginning with abolishing the tax for first home buyers on existing homes up to $1 million.
The party said that, after five years, it would then begin adjusting the brackets of stamp duty, with plans to totally scrap the tax within 15 years.
Without citing evidence, the state’s opposition party said stamp duty was an “inefficient tax” and claimed research shows stamp duty “disincentivises downsizing and delays Australians changing jobs as well as pushing back having kids”.
“We proposed phasing out stamp duty today, an inefficient tax that is an obstacle to home ownership,” the party said.
The South Australian Liberals also claimed that the South Australian Labor government collected $1.6 billion from stamp duty last year.
In response, the state’s Labor Party claimed the Liberals’ plan would wipe out the equivalent of two years of the budget for South Australian Police, branding its plans “reckless and dangerous”.
“It is abundantly clear that services will be cut sector-wide to pay for this electoral bribe, which looms as one of the most dangerous and incompetent pieces of economic policy ever proposed in South Australia,” the South Australian Labor Party said in a statement.
The party also reiterated plans that, if re-elected, a Malinauskas Labor government would establish a $500 million pre-sale guarantee fund aimed at unlocking more apartment developments in the CBD and speeding up the delivery of homes.
The political wrangling comes ahead of state elections in March 2026.
This article was originally featured on Smart Property Investment sister title Broker Daily.