Latest News & Commentary
Submission to the Victorian Legislative Council Inquiry into Land Transfer Duty Fees
Prosper's submission to the Victorian Legislative Council Inquiry into Land Transfer Duty Fees reflects our evolving thinking around the core motivations for the reform. 14 April 2023 Prosper Australia is an independent research institute focused on the management of...
Melbourne’s Pandemic Rental Dynamics: the limits of faster housing supply to tackle affordability
Prosper's latest report sounds a cautionary note for policymakers placing market supply at the centre of affordable housing policy. Report author, Dr Tim Helm, Prosper’s Director of Research and Policy, described the report, entitled “Melbourne’s pandemic rental...
Henry George & The Science of Political Economy
Friday May 5th, 2023 6:30pm School of Political Economy, Level 1, 49 Smith Street. Free event. All welcome. Register at Eventbrite Henry George (1839-1897) rose to fame as a social reformer and economist amid the industrial and intellectual turbulence of the late...
Want to know the truth about property taxes? Try these facts
The confrontation over Victoria’s Social and Affordable Housing Levy may have been short lived when the proposed levy was quickly dropped after conniptions by the property lobby but the shibboleth that property taxes represent a large proportion of the cost of buying a house is economic propaganda that just won’t die.
Pandemic rental dynamics: an (un)natural experiment in excess supply
Tuesday 21st March The Kelvin Club, 14-30 Melbourne Pl, Melbourne VIC 3000 map 5:30pm Join us in-person we present findings from our latest research note - Pandemic rental dynamics: an (un)natural experiment in excess supply by Jesse Hermans and Tim Helm. You’d...
What if land markets are monopolies?
Planning deregulation, especially rezoning, has been repeatedly touted as a key policy solution to Australia’s eye watering house prices. The story goes that prices remain high because the supply of new dwellings in accessible, desirable locations has not kept pace...
The ‘not enough’ budget clears the way for a bigger tax conversation
Times are turbulent and changing: pandemics, wars, energy crises, climate disasters, inflation, a new government. In this very challenging context, the Albanese government has handed down its first budget. The budget is in many ways foundational. It covers what Labor...
The 2022 EJ Craigie Award Winner
Prosper’s outgoing Director of Advocacy, Karl Fitzgerald, picked up the EJ Craigie Award for best Georgist writing at the 2022 Henry George Dinner and Address. His opinion piece “Forget red or green tape, developers squeeze housing supply with gold tape” appeared in...
131st Annual Henry George Commemorative Dinner and Address
On September 14, 2022 we descended on the Kelvin Club (and online) to listen to Economist Brendan Coates delivering a sobering, hopeful evidenced based address. The 131st Henry George Commemorative Address Dinner and Address attracted a diverse crowd from across...
Queensland Land Tax reversal a win for property industry spin
Director of Research Danny Spring, Policy Coordinator Jesse Hermans The Queensland government has backed down on nation-leading land tax reform after backlash from other states and an opposing media campaign waged by big property. The tax reform was modest, impacting...
Subscribe to our newsletter
Be the first to hear about our latest research, campaigns and upcoming events.
Support our work to shift tax away from the productive parts of our economy and towards unearned streams of income.
The power of revenue policy to create a fairer and more sustainable economy is significantly underestimated, and this is what we seek to change.