The Property Council says stamp duty has spiralled out of the control, including in the ACT where the amount collected from property sales has increased more than two-and-a-half times since 2000.
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ACT executive director Catherine Carter acknowledges "modest reductions" in Canberra in recent years, but says in 2013-14 the government still collected $227 million compared with $87 million in 2000-01.
The council is pushing hard for state and territory governments to target stamp duty at Thursday's Council of Australian Governments meeting.
It has released figures showing that nationally, $16.17 billion was collected by states and territories in taxes on house and property sales in 2013-14, with $19.08 billion budgeted in 2014-15. The amount is up from $6.44 billion in 2000-01.
In Canberra, stamp duty revenue peaked in 2010-11 at $350 million. Each year since then it has settled at about $230 million a year, with a similar amount in the budget for 2015-16.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr has made much of his tax reform in which stamp duty and insurance taxes are being phased out, with the lost revenue loaded on to rates. He promises that stamp duty will be reduced every year he is Treasurer. But as rate increases of about 10 per cent a year start to bite, he indicated this year that the abolition of stamp duty might take longer than the 20 years originally planned. He will release a new five-year tax plan with next year's budget.
Ms Carter said despite some modest reduction in Canberra in the past five years, the impact of stamp duty over 15 years was clear.
"The ACT government is reaping huge gains from the growing stamp duty impost at the expense of homebuyers, housing affordability and the economy.
"Relying on homebuyers and business to bankroll the territory's budget to the tune of more than $229 million a year is hurting families and holding back the ACT economy."
But Ms Carter said it was difficult for the ACT to go it alone in cutting stamp duty.
"One thing that's clear is that none of the state and territory governments, including the ACT, have the capacity to do all the heavy lifting themselves," she said. "The outcome the ACT government is seeking is the right one but getting there is very challenging."
The Property Council will release an analysis of stamp duty by Deloitte Access Economics on Wednesday, which estimates that GDP would rise by $3.3 billion if stamp duty was abolished. The average time people kept homes would fall from 13 years to eight years, and up to 340,000 extra property transactions would be generated.
Stamp duty discouraged people from moving, which affected labour supply and productivity, increased the cost of commuting, prevented "up-sizing or down-sizing", and discouraged people from moving to be closer to friends or family. It also increased the cost to business of restructuring or relocating.
The Deloitte report shows the ACT government relies on stamp duty to a lesser extent that almost every other state or territory, with 18 per cent of tax revenue coming from stamp duty in Canberra compared with a national average of 23 per cent.
South Australia is abolishing stamp duty on commercial property by mid 2018. For most states, revenue from stamp duty peaked in 2007-08, but in NSW the amount collected by the state government continues to rise, hitting $6.3 billion in 2013-14, and $8.1 billion budgeted for 2014-15 and 2015-16.
