Land Tax

The Hon. F. PANGALLO (15:23): I will correct the Treasurer: I asked the question actually about the land tax bills. Is it not the case, Treasurer, that RevenueSA does not have the systems in place to be able to deal with the complexities of its legislation? If the bills haven't been issued as yet, what's going to happen if they are issued later in the year? Can property owners expect to get two bills within a matter of months that they have to pay?

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (15:24): I apologise profusely if I gave credit to the Hon. Mr Darley for the question the Hon. Mr Pangallo raised. I might say my hairdresser was delighted that I referred to the advice he had given to me in relation to the honourable member's question. He has been trading out on that for the last couple of months.

In relation to the honourable member's question, the discussions I have had with RevenueSA in relation to these issues are clearly that if someone is receiving a reduction in their land tax—which the majority of them will be as a result of the government's changes—the issue of getting two tax bills should not overly concern them because they are getting a reduction, maybe over two bills, in the one year.

The honourable member may well be talking about the minority of people who may see some sort of an increase. Discussions I have had with RevenueSA is that they are looking at the arrangements that can be made for a staged payment—I guess that is my layperson's description of what might occur—in relation to their land tax commitments, if they have any. However, it may mean that the land tax bill for next year—hopefully it won't be as complicated the second time around—may or may not be in this calendar year. It may not occur until early next year, so they will be in two separate calendar years anyway.

In response to the honourable member's first question, no. RevenueSA and their systems are working as expeditiously as they can in relation to the complicated new tax arrangements. They knew the degree of complication they were going to be confronted with, it has just taken them much longer in terms of tackling the task of individual cases than they would have otherwise wanted.