Tax expenditures and housing

Abstract

This paper assesses the scale and distribution of key tax expenditures associated with the way in which housing is treated in the Australian tax system and indicates some changes that would make it more efficient and equitable. The relevant key tax bases are, at a federal level, the (individual) income and consumption (GST) tax and, at a state or local level, transactions (stamp duties) and wealth (land taxes and rates) taxes. This paper focuses only on the equity implications of the tax expenditures that arise with these tax bases