Stamp duty: would Victoria be better off with a land tax instead?

Brendan Coates of the Grattan Institute says Victoria’s economy would be $5.3bn better off next financial year if stamp duty was replaced by an annual land tax. Photograph: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

The Victorian government has given its strongest indicator yet it is open to reforming stamp duty – one of the state’s most contentious taxes.

The government this week released its response to a parliamentary inquiry that urged the state to investigate options to scrap stamp duty and replace it with a broad-based land tax.