In brief
The 2025/26 South Australia State Budget was delivered on Thursday, 5 June 2025 by Treasurer Stephen Mullighan.
The 2025-26 South Australian Budget introduces no new taxes or changes to tax policies and forecasts a $179m surplus, with substantial investments in health, housing, and infrastructure. A particular emphasis is placed on crime prevention, with a record $138.9m allocated to police funding over four years. Higher than expected property growth has bolstered key state revenue streams.
In detail
The 2025-26 South Australian Budget describes itself as being focused on significant funding for police, corrections, road safety, housing, education, and health, alongside cost of living relief for families. Major initiatives include a record investment to police funding, support for drought-stricken farmers, investment in Whyalla steelworks, and infrastructure projects, including the North-South Corridor and new hospitals. The budget estimates an $18m general government net operating balance surplus in 2024-25, with the budget projected surplus of $179m in 2025-26, and surpluses continuing across the forward estimates.
There were no new announced taxes, tax increases, or taxation measures in the 2025-26 Budget. However, there have been some updates and revisions in relation to revenue estimates:
Tax measures
No new taxation measures are included in the 2025-26 Budget.
Revenue estimates
- State taxation revenue estimates have been revised up by $370m in 2024-25 compared to estimates in the 2024-25 Budget and are expected to grow by around 6.8% during the year. The growth is mainly due to strength in conveyance duty and land tax collections reflecting strong property market conditions.
- Growth in total taxation revenue of 3.8% is expected in 2025-26, with annual average growth of around 3.6% over the four years to 2028-29, supported by estimated growth in payroll tax, conveyance duty and land tax revenues.
- Conveyance duty revenue in 2024-25 is estimated to be $240m higher than forecast in the 2024-25 Budget, reflecting stronger than expected growth in residential property prices and transactions. Overall collections are forecast to increase by 9.8% in 2024-25, mainly reflecting the impact of strong price growth and increased residential property transfers, partially offset by lower duty from large transactions and the foreign owner surcharge. This is followed by a more modest revenue growth outlook of around 3% per annum, on average, over the four years to 2028-29.
- Land tax revenue estimates have been revised up $31m since the 2024-25 Budget but assume site value growth will return closer to trend levels of around 3% per annum from 2026-27 following higher than average growth in recent years. In 2025-26, residential site values are estimated to increase by around 15% and non-residential site values by around 12%, reflecting the strength in the property market during 2024. This results in strong growth in forecast private land tax collections of around 12% in 2025-26.
- GST revenue growth reflects forecast growth in the national GST pool of 5.5%. Growth in GST revenue grants is expected to be negative in 2027-28 and low in 2028-29 due to an expected decline in South Australia’s grant share, reflecting that interstate mining revenues are forecast to return to more normal levels across the forward estimates and that South Australia will receive a higher than per capita share of impacting Commonwealth infrastructure grant funding across the forward estimates period.
- Payroll tax receipts for 2024-25 have been revised down by $14m since the 2024-25 Budget, reflecting softer than expected collections experience, with total revenue growth of 5.3% expected in 2024-25. Payroll tax revenue is expected to grow by around 5.2% per annum on average over the four years to 2028-29, broadly consistent with estimated underlying growth in employment and earnings.
The takeaway
No new taxation measures are included in the 2025-26 South Australian Budget and no material measures impact State tax assessments in the 2025-26 financial year.
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