THE Victorian Liberal Party this week secured an amendment to the State Taxation Acts Amendment Bill 2025, that provides an exemption from land tax for homes that became uninhabitable after the 2022 floods.
Liberal Member for Northern Victoria, Wendy Lovell, raised the matter of flood victims being sent land tax bills with Shadow Treasurer James Newbury after hearing concerning stories from her constituents.
Ms Lovell thanked Mr Newbury for his strong advocacy in parliament, and in negotiations with the Government, to successfully secure this tax relief measure.
“I fought hard with my Liberal colleagues to see flood victims exempt from this unfairness in the tax system. This change, on behalf of vulnerable Victorians, is a small but desperately needed fix,” she said.
Previously, under section 58(1) of the Land Tax Act, a landowner had an exemption from land tax if the land became unfit for occupation “because of damage or destruction caused by an event such as fire, earthquake, storm, accident or malicious damage” – but only until the second anniversary of the destructive event.
Now that more than two years have passed since the 2022 floods, victims of the natural disaster who are still rebuilding their homes are being sent land tax bills by the Labor Government because it is technically no longer their principal place of residence.
This week Ms Lovell and her colleagues persuaded the Government to accept an amendment extending this exemption until the fourth anniversary of the destructive event.
This change means that victims of the 2022 floods will now continue to be exempt from land tax on properties which are not a principal place of residence because their home is uninhabitable while under repair.
