Deloitte International Tax Leader, Peter Madden, tonight welcomed the government’s announcement that it is committed to establishing Australia as a regional financial hub.

“Whilst the proposed 7.5% tax rate for foreign residents investing in Australian property trusts will be good for the commercial and rural property sectors, it is questionable how this enhances Australia as a regional financial hub.

Other measures that should be considered to further enhance Australia as a regional financial hub include:

• tax incentives for fund managers and their employees
• clarity regarding the taxation of sovereign wealth investment
• measures to facilitate the IPO of foreign companies in Australia
• special economic zones for true international fund management activities or offshore banking type concessions for such activities.

“The ultimate measure of success of will be when fund managers move to Australia from established centres such as Singapore and Hong Kong as a result of such measures.”