Yesterday, Labor announced a new $18.6m land tax smash and grab, which will cripple new housing development, push up house prices and savagely impact on small business.

Because Labor’s new land tax surcharge comes in at $3 million (aggregated value of all the lots) it will hit the overwhelming majority of new greenfield housing developments in the State.

This means less new housing development, fewer jobs and higher prices for new houses.

It beggars belief that at a time when we are working hard to meet housing demand, Labor wants to put a new tax on new houses, and a new tax on jobs.

Labor’s new tax will also hit most – if not all - commercial property owners in Tasmania, which will inevitably be passed on to small business tenants by their landlords in the form of higher rents.

Labor always jacks up taxes to pay for its unaffordable big-spending promises, and it always has the same result – less developments and fewer jobs.

It’s the same old Labor, joined at the hip with the Greens. Housing and commercial developers, along with small business, who employ hard working Tasmanians will be outraged.

It’s also clear that Labor’s costings of this policy don’t go close to adding up.

We will put our land tax policy in with Treasury today for costing, and I challenge Labor to do the same with theirs so that their tax on housing and on small business can be fully understood.