Key Highlights

  • The Victorian Greens propose a 0.1% quarterly levy on the five biggest banks' liabilities.
  • They also propose a 75% tax on poker machines.
  • The bank levy would raise about $3 billion a year, according to the article.
  • The proposal can be compared with the federal bank levy.

With 24 days until Victorians vote on Saturday 28 November, the Victorian Greens have set out how they would pay for a platform that includes abolishing stamp duty on cheaper homes and making public transport permanently free. The centrepiece is a new levy on the country's five biggest banks, which the party says would raise more than $3 billion a year. Steep gambling tax rises follow. Both are proposals only, and the party has not published who costed them.

The Greens could hold influence in the upper house or in a close result. That makes their Revenue plan worth understanding before polling day.

The bank levy: 0.1% a quarter

The Greens' "How we pay for it" page proposes a quarterly levy of 0.1% on Victoria's share of the liabilities of ANZ, CommBank, Westpac, NAB and Macquarie. The party says this would raise "$3+ billion a year".

A bank's liabilities are mainly the deposits it holds and the money it borrows on wholesale markets. A levy on liabilities therefore scales with the size of a bank's Balance Sheet rather than its profit.

The page does not say how Victoria's share of each bank's national liabilities would be calculated, or whether the levy would be deductible for federal company tax purposes.

A national bank levy already exists. Under the federal Major Bank Levy Act 2017, banks whose total liabilities exceeded $100 billion (a threshold that is indexed quarterly) pay 0.015% of their applicable liabilities each quarter. The federal base excludes some items, including deposits protected by the government's financial claims scheme and Additional Tier 1 capital.

The Greens' Victorian levy would sit on top of the federal one. Its proposed quarterly rate of 0.1% is more than six times the federal quarterly rate of 0.015%, although it would apply only to Victoria's share of each bank's liabilities. The Greens' page does not say whether insured deposits or other items would be excluded from its base.

Explainer: what 0.1% a quarter adds up to

A rate of 0.1% charged every quarter works out to about 0.4% a year on the same base.

Hypothetical example: suppose Victoria's share of one bank's liabilities was $200 billion.

  • One quarter's levy: 0.1% of $200 billion is $200 million.
  • Four quarters: $200 million x 4 = $800 million a year.

For comparison, the federal levy's 0.015% a quarter works out to about 0.06% a year. On the same hypothetical $200 billion, that would be $120 million a year, against $800 million under the Greens' plan, although the two bases are defined differently.

Working backwards from the Greens' figure, $3 billion a year at 0.4% implies a combined Victorian Liability base across the five banks of about $750 billion ($3 billion divided by 0.004). That is simple arithmetic on the party's own numbers, not a figure the Greens have published.

Whether banks would absorb a levy or pass it on to borrowers and depositors through interest rates and fees is a contested question. The page does not address it.

Gambling: a 75% pokies tax

The second-largest measure targets gambling. The Greens propose:

  • Raising the tax on online gambling to 25%, which the page says is "like they have in the ACT"
  • Raising the tax on poker machines to 75%
  • Doubling the tax on casino table games.

The party says these changes combined "would generate more than $2 billion a year". It also says online gambling revenue would no longer go to the racing industry.

The page does not state the current rates it would be replacing. Victoria's existing gaming taxes are set under state law, and a 75% rate on poker machine revenue would be a major increase for hotels, clubs and the casino.

Royalties, land tax and rezoning windfalls

The remaining measures are smaller:

  • Coal and gas royalties doubled, which the Greens estimate would bring in "about $80 million extra a year".
  • Higher land tax on investors who own more than $5 million of residential Investment property, which the page calls an "ultra-wealth tax" and says would raise "about half a billion a year".
  • The windfall gains tax on land rezoning raised to 75%.

Earlier coverage of the land tax proposal reported a different and much larger figure. The two estimates may be measured over different periods, so they should not be compared directly.

The page says "Our plan is fully costed", but it does not name who prepared the costings or publish a total. Victoria's Parliamentary Budget Office prepares election costings for parties that request them.

What the money would fund

The election promise tracker, updated on 4 November, lists several big-ticket Greens commitments that sit alongside the revenue plan:

  • Abolishing stamp duty on homes under $1.1 million, with a discount on homes under $1.6 million
  • Making public transport permanently free
  • Doubling registration fees for vehicles with bonnets wider than 120 centimetres.

Stamp duty is one of Victoria's largest own-source taxes. Abolishing it on most homes would remove a substantial and volatile revenue stream, which is one reason the size and reliability of any replacement revenue matter.

The major parties have taken a different approach on tax. The Coalition has pledged no new or increased taxes, according to reports, while Labor has promised to roll back its earlier land tax increases over six years.

For any Greens measure to become law it would need the support of whichever party forms government, or a minority government arrangement in which the Greens could press for it.

What to watch

  • Saturday 28 November 2026: Victorian state election. The caretaker period has already begun.
  • Whether the Greens release an independent costing of the levy and gambling measures before polling day, including a total for the full revenue plan.
  • How the banks respond, and whether they argue a state levy would flow through to customers.
  • The upper house count, which typically takes longer to finalise and could determine how much Leverage the Greens have after the election.

Until a government adopts them, the bank levy and the 75% pokies tax remain proposals with no legal effect.