The state government is cutting stamp duty by 50per cent — meaning that commercial and industrial properties in regional Victoria will receive a duty concession of 10 per cent.
It will then be reduced by a further 10 per cent each year reaching 50 per cent by July 1, 2023.
The concession for commercial and industrial land will present business opportunities for new operators, but will also minimise costs for businesses wishing to expand or move their operations to regional Victoria.
It is anticipated 2400 transactions will take advantage of the concession each year, saving an average $17500 by mid-2023.
Acting treasurer Robin Scott said Labor was doing more to encourage businesses to relocate to Victoria’s regional areas, while supporting existing regional businesses to expand their operations and hire more staff.
‘‘This will help thousands of regional businesses expand their operations, reach new markets and create jobs,’’ Mr Scott said.
‘‘It complements our suite of measures in regional Victoria that have eased regulatory burden, encouraged growth and boosted local employment.’’
Further reductions to the regional payroll tax rate are also planned — the tax rate will reduce 0.4 percentage points each year from 2020-21 until 2022-23, at which point it will be a quarter of the metropolitan rate.
It will fall to 1.21 per cent by 2022-23 meaning regional businesses in Victoria are likely to continue to have the lowest payroll tax rate in the country.
More than 3500 regional businesses are expected to benefit from the payroll tax relief.
On top of this, from July 1, businesses will no longer have to register their business address in regional Victoria to take advantage of the reduced regional rate, meaning more businesses will qualify.
Instead, businesses will be eligible if 85 per cent of wages are paid in the regions.
Since November 2014, more than 60000 new jobs have been created in regional Victoria with the unemployment rate in the three months to May 2019 the lowest on record at 4.1per cent.