Prosper Australia

Changing the GST was always intended to be hard and is getting harder by the week. Under the so-called intergovernmental agreement on implementation of the GST, any change in the rate or the base required the unanimous approval of the Federal, State and Territory governments. Although that “agreement” can be unilaterally abrogated by Canberra, neither [...]

Tues Oct 30th, 6.30pm 1/27 Hardware Lane, Melbourne Presenter: Dr Gavin Putland RSVP to this free event Dr Gavin Putland discusses the role of Australia’s largest market – the land market – in influencing economic activity. In 2001, Bryan Kavanagh found that a high ratio of property sales to GDP indicated a bubble, and that [...]

In his second budget, Victorian Treasurer Kim Wells is aiming for a surplus of $155 million, of which $109 million is due to increased fines. The Government has budgeted for $662.5 million in total fines, including $306 million from road-safety cameras, in 2012-13. Exceeding the speed limit by less than 10km/h will now cost you [...]

10 November 2011 MELBOURNE:- The Growth Corridor Plan announced by the Baillieu Government presents Melbourne with big challenges. How to pay for the massive infrastructure needed is front and centre – and unmentioned in the Plan. “Demand for new and better transport links around developments and the extra traffic burden they bring onto the existing [...]

The Kavanagh Putland Index Dr Gavin Putland Thursday Oct 20th, 6.30pm 1/27 Hardware Lane RSVP pls to this free event. Dr Gavin Putland will analyse the size of the Australian land bubble in the context of previous land booms. This indicator compares bubbles in relative terms by dividing land sales by GDP, reflecting the size [...]

photo credit: rubenerd 29 September 2011 MELBOURNE:- Vested interests are determined to stifle reform of the government revenue base at the Tax Forum next week, says Prosper Australia. “The government has lined up industry representatives and lobby peaks – all to plead the special needs of those who pay their salaries. This blatant pandering to [...]

Dr Gavin Putland of the Land Values Research Group drives a stake through a vampire heart in the Letters page of today’s Australian Financial Review Joanne Seve (Letters, August 5) regurgitates the property lobby’s favourite untruth, namely that land tax is passed on to tenants. In its crudest form, this argument expects the reader to [...]

photo credit: tinou bao 27 July 2011 The AMP/NATSEM report on housing affordability released today draws a clear picture of Australia’s house price dilemma. It fails, however, in concluding house prices will remain stable for a decade while real incomes catch up. “This survey ignores the contradictions within this wildly overheated market,” Prosper Australia Campaign [...]

photo credit: Jasmic Gavin R. Putland in today’s Crikey Enewsletter: Without the benefit of reading today’s balance-of-payments figures from the ABS, I’m expecting tomorrow’s GDP figure for the March quarter to be worse than the median forecast of mainstream economists. Probably much worse. As Bloomberg reports this morning, the median forecast is for a contraction. [...]

photo credit: HikingArtist.com Letter to the Editor Gavin Putland, LVRG, Melbourne 02/02/2011 THE value of land embraced by the latest extension of the urban growth boundary has jumped from $25,000 to $375,000 a hectare, raising the land tax bill for the average 40-hectare lot from $2975 a year to $294,975 a year (The Age, 1/2). [...]