Evolving Economics Enews, Aug 11

Wednesday September 2nd, from 6pm

The Royal Society of Victoria, 8 La Trobe St, Melbourne

RSVP & Tickets ($30 includes dinner and lecture)

We are excited to announce Miranda Stewart – Director of the Tax and Transfer Policy Unit at the Crawford School of Public Policy (ANU) – as speaker for the 124th Annual Henry George Commemorative Dinner. Miranda is a renowned tax and economics academic and supporter of Australian tax reform. She is also an accomplished editor and author of a number of books including Not for Profits Law (2014), Sham Transactions (2013), and Death and Taxes (2012).

The most important evening in the Australian Georgist calendar meets again in the historical setting of the Burke and Wills room at the Royal Society of Victoria. The evening begins at 6pm, with food served from 6.15 and the lecture at 7.15. The event is licensed and drinks are pay-as-you-go.

The EJ Craigie writing award for the best Georgist piece of the last 12 months will be presented on the night. Nominations for the award will be announced soon. RSVP now for what is sure to be another thought provoking and inspiring evening.

Prosper to present at Home Ownership Inquiry

Prosper Australia Policy Director David Collyer will be appearing before the House of Representatives Economics Committee Inquiry into Home Ownership. Prosper’s submission to the Inquiry stood alongside submissions from tax and housing reform advocates such as Phil Soos and Lindsay David, Cameron Murray, and Matt Ellis – whose submission The Housing Crash We Had to Have: A Gen Y Perspective on the Bubble is an excellent read.

The Inquiry will be hearing submissions on August 14 in Melbourne. The hearings are open to the public and there’s sure to be plenty of fireworks. We’d love to see some friendly faces attend.

The 1114th edition of our journal – Progress Magazine is out, heralding The End of Stamp Duty, a critique of taxi licenses by Phillip Anderson, contributions from Lindsay David, Gary Flomenhoft, Dan Sullivan and more.

111 years young Progress is Australia’s longest running economics journal. A subscription to Progress is included with Prosper memberships, or you can subscribe separately. If you would like to trial the magazine you can read previous editions online, or contact the office for a complimentary copy of the latest issue.

Jumping the shark

Rational Radical Matt Ellis has written an entertainingly scathing appraisal of our where we are at as a nation when it comes to tax policy and our economic direction. Highly recommended.

Jeez we’ve had it good these last 20 years. While half of the developed world collapsed into financial and economic meltdown under the largest pile of debt the world has ever seen, we kicked back with our first home owner grants and solar panel rebates, and threw another shrimp on the barbie out the back of our half a million dollar mortgage. I mean house.

……Most people agree that economics is boring. And finance is even more boring. And don’t even get me started about tax. Bloody hell who cares right? Except if you’re trying to take more tax from me than the next bloke, in which case it turns out I’m an expert, and my expert opinion is that tax is un-Australian.

 

Negative gearing – more tall tales 

Over at Macrobusiness, Leith van Onselen continues his marathon run contesting the unending misinformation coming from the Abbott government on negative gearing.

Just because the Abbott Government repeats a lie often enough does not make it true. The ATO data which the government relies on to claim that negative gearing is used primarily by “middle Australians” is fatally flawed because it relates to “taxable income”, which is what is left after deductions such as negative gearing are accounted for.

Dispelling the blatant untruths from the property propaganda machine is a major civic duty – especially as more evidence mounts that we’ve lost all sense of good judgement when it comes to property. The AFR reports that the number of properties per investor is on the rise and investors are comprehensively out-borrowing owner occupiers.

Rounding Off 

Karl is making waves in Detroit at the Council of Georgist Organisations conference and on the street! Check out the latest Renegade Economists podcasts straight from the States. And, the International Union have appointed him the Vice President for Australia – so expect plenty of international collaboration this year.

Prosper Vice President Catherine Cashmore will be presenting at the HIA’s Building Better Cities Summit on August 18 in Sydney.

We love the entry for monopoly in the New Devil’s Dictionary. For more dictionary fun check out Hudson’s Insider’s Economic Dictionary.

There’s increasing concern that billions of pounds of corruptly gained money has been laundered by criminals and foreign officials buying upmarket London properties through anonymous offshore front companies. And check out this scary London trend of jamming a shower in the kitchen of rental flats!

For the latest commentary you can follow Karl and David on Twitter, or join the conversation on our Facebook pages (Earthsharing, Don’t Buy Now).

Don’t forget to book your tickets for the dinner,

Jess Wright