BLOG: Commentary

Proposed removal of Site Value rating option

James Webster Parkdale, VIC 3195 March 7th 2018,   Dear DELWP, I object to key changes in the Local Government Act Review that undermine the revenue sovereignty of local Councils. I consider revenue sovereignty crucial to council’s political sovereignty. I...

Why universal basic income will fail

By Akhil Patel It has become popular to suggest a Universal Basic Income (UBI) as a solution to growing inequity. But in its current form UBI will be a total failure. Not because the idea is a bad one, but because it ignores the law of economic rent. The idea of a UBI...

HomesVic: An equity share of a broken housing market

Like most 30 somethings with a substantial HECS debt and an addiction to avocado on toast, I am an aspiring first home buyer. I’d love to buy the home I currently rent: a daggy 1960’s ‘six-pack’ flat on a main road in Footscray. It’s currently valued around $360,000....

OECD tries to do the impossible

  3 January 2018 International Co-operation and Tax Administration Division OECD/CTPA Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,           Circumvention of Common Reporting Standards (CRS)   May I respectfully suggest that the OECD has set itself an impossible task in...

Does taxing investors drive up the rent?

The Productivity Commission’s recent five year review, “Shifting the Dial”, brings the welcome recommendation of a shift from stamp duties to a broad-based land tax. Stamp duty is a dud tax from the economist’s point of view; it doesn’t achieve an obvious...

From capitalism to rentierism?

Taxes on wages in Australia were fairly minimal until WWII, since which time they’ve been ratcheted up significantly. Federal taxes before the war consisted mainly of customs and excise charges and the federal land tax, introduced in 1910. The States and...

A Land Tax for the Top End?

Amid recent GST distribution cuts of $400m p.a. (about 12% of revenue) and a flagging property market, the Northern Territory Government is facing severe fiscal challenges. The NT is the most stamp duty reliant government in the federation, and has been hard hit an...