Robert J McAlpine, President Prosper Australia

The time for thinkers on economic matters has come! By neglecting the field of property valuation, mainstream economists have missed some of the most important factors in market price determination

There exists an almost complete chasm of two closely related economic considerations. One dealing with the abstract, which can vary between money market commentators – the other is concerned with the measurement of the market and its value in the marketplace. Each has developed contemporaneously but along separate and independent lines. Their origins were different, one – philosophical speculation, two – judicial and administrative necessity – land valuation backed by the land valuation courts.

The importance of the valuation of land within the general framework of economics appears at first sight to be restricted to a specific field but its scope is in fact very wide and its principles applicable to a diversity of problems. It is the only division of economic theory which relies upon empirical verification of hypotheses.

I have seen a photograph taken from space of a car numberplate and of a golf ball. Every square metre of land on planet ‘Earth’ can be photographed, identified and computerised. By assembling land titles on a computer schedule and charging rent for that land, no person or company who owns land can hide. The current Australian tax act has ten thousand pages and is so complicated that even economists, financial advisers and accountants cannot understand it.

The current exposure of money market manipulators is evidencing a weakness in the system and causing untold pain to those people who have a fair and reasonable expectation of future economic security. The serious implication of present financial arrangements seems to be leading to hardship. A nearby farmer said to me a few weeks ago – “Don’t kill those rabbits! Some people may soon need to eat them!”

Einstein proved conclusively that what appeared to be complex problems can really have simple solutions. Seeing the cat is easier if it is black and white and this issue, in my opinion, is black and white. Simplicity versus complexity; equity for countless millions of people versus the unearned increment in land values worldwide; and economic justice versus economic tyranny – are all complex problems. The best simple version of money collection of land rental is foolproof and would release many people who are currently engaged in complex tax collections to be teachers, nurses and employed in a variety of other worthwhile occupations.

It is monumentally significant that my thesis applies only to land on a computer inventory and in no degree relates to buildings which, of course, continue to be private.

The theory of property valuation is not a hothouse plant depending for its existence upon the maintenance of an artificial, economic environment but a hardy perennial battered by the elements of judicial force into a shape best suited for survival against the impostors.

The time has come! Independent from time-honoured economic systems of tax collection, is the need for simplicity which is also needed in all aspects of life! Is it simple enough to understand?

Reference: Principles and Practice of Valuation – J F N Murray