Victorian sandblaster Angie Romas is the latest casualty of the state’s ballooning land-tax regime. For 22 years he has run his 1.6-hectare sandblasting and painting yard in Dandenong South, employing a dozen tradespeople and supplying major infrastructure projects. Ten years ago his annual land-tax bill was $8,700; this year it landed at an eye-watering $203,600 — a 2,240 per-cent jump . Treasury modelling says it will climb by roughly $50,000 every February, threatening either mass lay-offs or closure . “We’re being punished for just being here,” he told A Current Affair.
Premier Jacinta Allan insists the levy bankrolls schools, hospitals and transport upgrades . But owner-operators like Romas cannot pass the charge on to customers, nor can they relocate heavy industrial plant.
Critics counter that today’s tax spike is the inevitable legacy of three decades of privatisation: successive governments, from Jeff Kennett’s in the 1990s onward, have literally sold every significant public asset—power stations, ports, lotteries, even the titles office—leaving nothing left to sell. With the cupboard bare, Treasury is squeezing property instead.
Unless exemptions or caps arrive quickly, Romas’ workshop—and many like it—may fall silent. The stakes for jobs and investment are real. Has Victoria gone too far? Tell us what you think below.