Treasurer Andrew Barr said yesterday that the government was likely to act on a key recommendation of the long awaited Quinlan review of taxation that the transaction tax was inequitable and should be abolished.

Ted Quinlan's plan would see the unpopular stamp duty, a transaction tax on property sales, all but abolished over a 10-year period with the revenue shortfall taken up by ''broad-based land tax'' recovered through the general rates system.

The plan would see rates bills triple over 10 years, owners of high-end property paying up to $5300 at the end of the decade-long reform process while at the lower end of the market, the annual bills would be nearly $3000. But according to the report's authors the territory would be rid of stamp duty, an ''unfair, unpredictable, unstable and inefficient tax.''

The former treasurer, who compiled his review with the help of ACT Under-Treasurer Megan Smithies and Professor Alan Duncan from the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling, wants to see general rates levied in two components: a reformed ''transparent'' charge to cover the cost off delivering services with the broad-based property tax charged on top.

Mr Barr would not say yesterday if he intended to follow Mr Quinlan's plan to the letter, with the minister saying all would be revealed in next month's territory budget.

But Mr Barr and ACT Chief Minister Katy Gallagher have both long argued that the stamp-duty regime unfairly targets households who move house, and Ms Gallagher conceded last week that the present tax regime was hurting housing affordability.

But any move to change the rules would take time Mr Barr said, partly because of the ''unfairness'' of asking new homeowners to pay the broad-

based property tax just after handing over tens of thousands of dollars in land tax.

Mr Barr said the review would form the foundation of a historic agenda for reform of the government's revenue-raising efforts that would be based on ''fairness, efficiency and simplicity.''

There are also recommendations to abolish duties on general insurance and life insurance, to retain payroll tax in some form and to adopt a broad-based land tax to replace the revenues forgone from the reforms.

But launching the review of the report yesterday, Mr Barr said that reform would be a long process.

''It [stamp duty] is a considerable part of our own-source revenue, about $300 million or thereabouts, so the transition in any one year, on to the rates base for example would effectively require a doubling of everyone's rates,'' he said.

''That would be very unfair to anyone who has just paid stamp duty so I don't believe that it would be appropriate to make that transition in any one year and I accept the recommendations of the review that it should be a 10- to 20-year process.

''The question, of course, is making a start and so the government's view is something that we should pursue and looking at those principles that I referred to in terms of fairness, efficiency and simplicity. You should certainly look forward to some reform and to starting that reform process.''

Business, property, tax lobbyists and charity groups welcomed the review, but the opposition and Canberra resident, Property Owners & Ratepayers Associations president Peter Jansen, were unhappy.

''Political tactics and spin rule yet again,'' Mr Jansen said. ''A tax grab in disguise sums up the review's recommendations and the government responses.''

The government's public consultation on the review begins next week.