Legislation dealing with stamp duty on partly-paid C'Wlth Bank shares

9/7/96

The State Government has moved to ensure that trading in partly-paid Commonwealth Bank shares will attract stamp duty at the same rate as ordinary shares.

Finance Minister Max Evans announced today that Cabinet had approved the necessary legislation which would be introduced in the next session of Parliament and which would apply from July 15, 1996.

Mr Evans said the present float of the Federal Government's Commonwealth Bank shares allowed people to pay for their shares in instalments up to November 14, 1997.

Buyers who were paying by instalments would not be issued share certificates but would be given instalment receipts and these instalment receipts could be traded on the Stock Exchange.

Because they were a new product, they were not technically covered by existing stamp duty legislation, although it was clear that they should be to maintain fairness in share trading.

Similar legislation had already been enacted in New South Wales and it was expected that other States would follow suit to maintain the current uniformity of stamp duty share market legislation across the country.

The Minister stressed that the amendments would not affect the 'no stamp duty' status advertised as part of the Commonwealth Bank share offer, because that claim applied only to the original sale by the Government to the public.

Media contact: Hugh Ryan 322 6529