Rates in the ACT pay for government services and infrastructure that most Canberrans use. Everything from the police to hospitals are covered by rates in the ACT.
Who has to pay rates?
All property owners in Canberra have to pay rates. You are considered an owner for rates purposes if you are the registered proprietor of a parcel of land, a new owner in possession of the parcel but not yet registered as the proprietor, a mortgagee in possession or a person holding the parcel of land under a sublease from the territory. So basically if you own a block of land in Canberra, you have to pay rates.
What do rates pay for in Canberra?
We reviewed the latest rates assessment notice in Canberra to generate the table below. This table is directly provided by the ACT Government and shows the figures based on estimates from the 2020-2021 budget.
If you want to find out more about rates in Canberra, you can go to the ACT Government’s revenue website: https://www.revenue.act.gov.au/rates