Prosper Australia

Citizens retreat confused when talk turns to Economic Rents. The taxi industry is an excellent example of how assets granted by government create economic rents – at the expense of the wider community. There are 5181 taxi licences in Victoria, of which the Department of Transport’s Victorian Taxi Directorate leases about 1100 licences to operators [...]

Australian land prices are falling. They will continue to fall until their fundamental economic link to incomes and rents are fully restored. Many with large mortgages will be crushed by these towering liabilities when their equity is erased. This claim is bitterly resisted by the politico-housing complex and most homeowners, who see the exponential land [...]

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 currently deflating land bubble will erase wealth with dazzling speed. Sadly, striking falls in land values will have a greater impact on Australian wealth than any other advanced country.

photo credit: Steve – wants a job at Chester Zoo MELBOURNE and CANBERRA:- Australians had high hopes the Tax Forum would herald the end of taxes that distort and diminish economic activity as Ken Henry recommended. Sadly, these hopes have been dashed, says Prosper Australia. “Citizens are taxed too much – especially the income tax [...]

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 [...]

photo credit: sky_mitch State Treasury’s brief to the incoming Baillieu Government, the Blue Book, urges tax reform to drive Victoria’s competitiveness. The Blue Book has apparently been leaked to The Age. It strongly recommends lowering the burden of state taxes, particularly business charges and Stamp Duty. “The Liberal-National Coalition should seize this opportunity for reform [...]

photo credit: dcmaster Barry O’Farrell was elected Premier of NSW in March this year. His first budget announced Tuesday raised a storm of protest – not over a realignment of government priorities to his conservative Coalition’s agenda, but on Stamp Duty. The previous Keneally ALP government had exempted first home buyers (on houses up to [...]

photo credit: coba The taxing of alcohol allows slimy politicians to pound their chests about the damage the drug causes and claim high moral authority for sweeping the money into Consolidated Revenue. Slimy? Yes! Governments say alcohol taxes are a policy tool – to discourage consumption and offset its harm. In 2009, Allen Consulting Group [...]