Prosper Australia

By Nadia Weiner, Director, Adam Smith Club, Sydney, Australia Although Adam Smith is often quoted, the so-called “Father of Economics” has rarely been read, either by his detractors or his admirers. Consequently he is often misunderstood. Smith, who made such a strong stand against the protectionist mercantile system of trade of his day, devoted over [...]

Mason Gaffney, Professor of Economics, University of California, Riverside The following is the introduction to Professor Gaffney’s paper Neo-classical Economics as a Stratagem against Henry George, 5 July 1994. This paper formed the basis of a book: The Corruption of Economics, Mason Gaffney and Fred Harrison, Shepheard-Walwyn (Publishers) Ltd, London, 1994. Buy the book Introduction: [...]

By Fred E. Foldvary Fred received his B.A. in economics from the University of California at Berkeley, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in economics from George Mason University. He has taught economics at the Latvian University of Agriculture, Virginia Tech, John F. Kennedy University, California State University at Hayward, the University of California at Berkeley [...]

Derived from the presentation by Lev Lafayette at the Hume Global Learning Centre, June 28, 2006 Introduction Tonight I am representing Prosper Australia, an organisation which has, in various guises, been a part of Victoria for over one hundred years. One key objective of the organisation is the reduction, as much as possible of taxes [...]

Karl Williams, former President, Prosper Australia Inc. 200 Word Overview Geonomics (‘law of the Earth’) represents a completely different way of looking at The Earth. Starting from the self-evident (but ignored!) principle that The Earth (land and natural resources) should be the equal and common birthright of all humanity, a radically different set of economic [...]

Since the Howard government gained control of the Senate, we have been hearing numerous proposals for reducing the top marginal rate of income tax. The excuse is that high marginal rates reduce the incentive for wealth creation and encourage tax minimization. Let’s put this excuse to the test. A holding tax is a tax of [...]

SPIN: The Family Home is exempt from land tax. (And all the people shall say: Amen.) FACT: If home buyers don’t have to pay land tax, they can afford higher mortgage repayments, hence higher prices. While the price of a house is limited by the cost of construction and by competition among builders, a home [...]

The Howard government’s industrial relations agenda attacks the wages and conditions of workers as if this were the only way to reduce the cost of hiring. What about the administrative costs imposed by government? For example: If you become an employer, you must also become a tax collector and tax agent, deducting and remitting pay-as-you-earn [...]

A rental property is said to be negatively geared if the owner’s expenses (including mortgage interest and maintenance) exceed the rental income, so that the property makes an annual loss. If the tax system allows negative gearing deductibility, that loss can be deducted from other income for tax purposes. Abolition of this deductibility, loosely known [...]

Who are the real winners and losers under the Howard government’s industrial relations reforms? We think you can work it out for yourselves. Here are some hints: 1. If workers in firms with less than 100 employees have lost their protection against unfair dismissal (not to be confused with unlawful dismissal), and if all other [...]