{"id":660430,"date":"2026-05-09T19:52:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T19:52:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/660430\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T19:52:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T19:52:19","slug":"vic-liberals-pledge-cuts-to-payroll-tax-land-tax-as-jess-wilson-unveils-comprehensive-economic-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/660430\/","title":{"rendered":"Vic Liberals pledge cuts to payroll tax, land tax as Jess Wilson unveils \u2018comprehensive\u2019 economic plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Victorian Liberals and Nationals have pledged to cut payroll tax, reverse Labor\u2019s land tax hikes, and deliver a \u201creal\u201d surplus if they win the upcoming state election.<\/p>\n

Opposition Leader Jess Wilson sought to strengthen the Coalition\u2019s election pitch on Friday, unveiling a \u201ccomprehensive plan to clean up the books, repair the budget and turn our economy around\u201d.<\/p>\n

As part of the plan, the Opposition will gradually increase the payroll threshold from $1 million to $1.2 million over two years, before reducing the metropolitan payroll tax rate to 4.8 per cent.<\/p>\n

It is expected to deliver payroll tax relief to 23,000 Victorian businesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cVictoria\u2019s per capita economic growth is the worst in the country\u2026 We need more business investment in Victoria and more jobs to grow our economy and grow State revenue from this,\u201d Ms Wilson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis tax reform will make it cheaper for businesses in Victoria to create jobs. It will increase economic growth which will make the debt reduction task easier.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Opposition Leader also announced a commitment to reverse Labor\u2019s 2023 land tax changes, by incrementally lifting the land tax threshold from the current level of $50,000 back to the old level of $300,000 over a five year period.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will mean more than 270,000 land tax payers will have lower land tax bills by up to $975 per year under a Liberal and Nationals Government,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

While acknowledging the changes were \u201cmodest\u201d, Ms Wilson sought to pitch the Coalition as \u201cdisciplined and responsible\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy team and I would love to do more \u2013 and to do it sooner. But I have to be honest with Victorians,\u201d she said<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of this will be easy. It will take time. But this is a clear signal about the priorities of a Government I will lead \u2013 to reduce taxes, invest in and prioritise essential services and end the waste.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Opposition\u2019s 10-year economic plan also includes already announced policies, including a pledge to slash the number of \u201cback office roles\u201d in government departments through a Victorian Public Service hiring freeze<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As well as pledges to scrap Labor\u2019s emergency services levy, and taxes on schools, visits to the GP, and short-stay accommodation.<\/p>\n

\"Jess<\/p>\n

It also includes the commitment to lift the stamp duty free-threshold to $1 million for first home buyers, repeal the state\u2019s Treaty legislation, and implement a “Charter of Budget Honesty” and “Real-Time Expenditure Tracker”.<\/p>\n

But the centrepiece of the plan is a commitment to deliver a \u201creal surplus\u201d by 2032.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will progressively reduce this deficit once elected with a view to returning to a cash surplus \u2013 a real surplus \u2013 by 2032. We won\u2019t pretend, like the Government, we are in surplus now \u2013 we are not,\u201d she said<\/p>\n

Unlike Labor\u2019s \u201coperating surplus\u201d \u2013 which excludes spending on major infrastructure projects \u2013 a cash surplus would allow the government to start paying back Victoria\u2019s net debt \u2013 which is forecast to hit a record $199.3 billion by mid 2030. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt won\u2019t be easy, but our plan outlines a disciplined and responsible pathway to a cash surplus which will allow us to repay the $200 billion debt burden Labor has left Victorians,\u201d Ms Wilson added.<\/p>\n

The Opposition Leader unveiled the economic plan during a budget response<\/a> speech in which she accused the Allan government of having \u201cno serious economic plan\u201d and \u201cno vision\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to call it a budget. It\u2019s a credit card statement for 11 years of Labor failure,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo reform, no serious economic plan, no vision. Just the usual platitudes, excuses and misdirection.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut after 12 years of higher debt, higher taxes, higher interest and poorer services \u2013 was anyone really surprised?<\/p>\n

\u201cBy almost every measure we are the worst performing State in the Commonwealth by a country mile.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur debt, which our children and grandchildren will have to pay, is growing to unprecedented levels. Our services are crumbling. Our teachers are marching on the streets. Our roads are falling to pieces.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I look across at the Treasurer and the Premier and I don\u2019t see people with the energy to tackle these issues.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Victorian Liberals and Nationals have pledged to cut payroll tax, reverse Labor\u2019s land tax hikes, and deliver…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":660431,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[162884,64,63,1788,61060,4273,7173,40589,44,263027,134487,660,57056],"class_list":["post-660430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-allan","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-labor","tag-land-tax","tag-liberal","tag-liberals","tag-nationals","tag-news","tag-payroll-tax","tag-tax-cuts","tag-victoria","tag-wilson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=660430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/660431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=660430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=660430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=660430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}