Mr Barr defended aggressive increases in rates and land tax for multi-unit dwellings to a slew of callers on Chief Minister's talkback on ABC Radio on Friday morning.

Several questioned the fairness of changes to the calculation of the charges, which have pushed many unit and apartment owners into the highest rating bracket.

Mr Barr said people rarely approached him "doing cartwheels" saying paying tax was fantastic, but nearly everyone wanted more services from government and he had to balance the two.

He said rates were "not just about garbage collection, they are about hospitals, schools, roads, community services, policing ambulance, fire fighting, the whole range of services the ACT government provides".

"There is a much bigger debate to be had in this country that the bulk of spending on services is delivered at a state and territory level yet the bulk of revenue raising is undertaken at a national level by the Australian government," Mr Barr said.

"Part of this could be addressed by what is called vertical fiscal imbalance, which is one of the more boring titles to describe the situation where the Commonwealth government raises more money than it needs to spend and state and territory governments raise less money than is required to deliver services to the community and so we continue to grapple with that issue in our federation but in the meantime this community is growing faster than most communities in Australia, if not the fastest than the second fastest growing state or territory. We have increased demand for our services and they’ve got to be funded."

Short of changing how the federation distributes tax, Mr Barr said they were reforming the ACT"S taxation system through a 20-year program, timed to coincide when "we run out of land to sell".

"That’s why this is a difficult change for the ACT because yes we will have to get to a point where we can no longer fund our infrastructure programs," Mr Barr said.

"There are certain realities like yes, we are landlocked, there will come a point when we run out of land to sell, at that point we need to have transitioned to a more stable revenue base which is the 20-year process I’m undertaking .

"I won’t be around in the 2030s to be the beneficiary of the hard work that’s being undertaken in this decade and the next decade but those who follow me certainly will be able to run this territory to continue to provide the services this community need into the 2030s and 2040s when we run out of land to sell."

The ACT made $20.7 million in land sales related revenue last year, with predictions of a further $26.2 million in 2018-19.

While the 2012 taxation review said there was about 70 years of land left, a spokesman for Mr Barr later clarified he was referring to easily developed land, without the need to build infrastructure like bridges or do large-scale earthworks to  prepare the land for sale.

Mr Barr said he would look at the recommendations of the inquiry into the rates changes, but he believed the best way to tackle the equity problems they posed was to provide rebates to support the most vulnerable.

The Legislative Assembly on Thursday passed a $50 increase to the utilities concession, a measure expected to cost $1.7 million in 2018-19.