Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has issued a new Draft GST Ruling, GSTR 2013/02, in which it has drastically altered its view on the goods and services tax (GST) treatment of supplies made by operators of a mobile home parks,

(ii) once the draft ruling is finalised, home park operators will no longer be able to treat their lease, or licence of the site, to a resident as a supply of commercial residential premises and as a result, operators will be liable for GST on the full value of the supply rather than having access to the 50 per cent discount that is currently available for supplies of long-term accommodation, and

(iii) the likelihood that these charges will be passed on to consumers, many of whom are low income earners and pensioners, and That the increase in their fee may constitute 10 per cent or more of their meagre disposable income; and

(b) urges the ATO to maintain the current GST arrangements on mobile home parks, in order to ensure that low income earners are not disproportionately impacted.

Question agreed to.