Scott Ludlam (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

asked the Minister representing the Treasurer, upon notice, on 10 November 2011:

With reference to the Select Committee on Housing Affordability in Australia report, A good house is hard to find: Housing affordability in Australia, dated June 2008:

(1) Of the 33 recommendations, of which at least eight directly relate to the department, how many have been implemented to date.

(2) Can an update on any action be provided, including progress and outcomes made on all recommendations relating to the department, since the report was released.

(3) Given that recommendation 4.1 states ‘In the interests of more informed discussion of arrangements to encourage affordable housing, the Treasury be asked to publish current estimates of various taxation and related measures affecting the housing market’, can a current estimate of taxation and related measures affecting the housing market be provided, including a disaggregated breakdown for spending across all relevant departments.

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Treasurer has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question:

(1) & (2) Please refer to the responses given at the 2011-12 Senate Community Affairs Committee Supplementary Estimates Hearings by the Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs Portfolio. Question 86 on Hansard Page 20/10/2011, CA49.

(3) As noted in the Government response to the Select Committee’s report, a number of estimates of tax and other measures affecting housing are currently published.

The Tax Expenditures Statement is published annually. Estimates of the capital gains tax concession on owner occupied housing were developed for the 2008 Tax Expenditures statement, and are now included annually. The publication also estimates the tax expenditure from exempting certain regional and remote area employer provided housing from fringe benefits tax.

The Australian Taxation Office publishes Taxation Statistics annually. The detailed tables give estimates of negatively geared rental housing each year.

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority regularly publishes data on First Home Saver Accounts. Departmental expenditure estimates for the First Home Saver Accounts program are also available in the Treasury Portfolio Budget Statement published annually.