BLOG: Commentary

Pay the Rent, Boys

photo credit: ~Brenda-Starr~ Letter to the Editor - AFR 25/05/2010 Bryan Kavanagh, Glen Waverley Ross Garnaut and Ken Henry are undoubtedly correct about the benefits of the so-called super-profits ‘tax’ on miners. It’s actually a resource rent and acts vastly...

The Counter-Enlightenment

Michael Hudson The Counter-Enlightenment, its Economic Program – and the Classical Alternative Based on a talk given to Prosper Australia on Friday October 16th, 2009. First published in Progress Magazine - Autumn 2010. Download Progress #1096 here. The last few years...

Hurrah for Garnaut on Resource Rents

photo credit: Ben Golub With Don Argus (former BHP Chair), Judith Sloan (former Santos Director) & Andrew Forrest (vested interest) banging their fists on the table this week, scaremongering the public - 'How Dare They Threaten My Investments, My Profiteering from the...

The New Resources Tax Reduces Mining Risk.

photo credit: jcarter   The Commonwealth of Australia was built on the sound principle natural resources are part of every Australian's endowment. The Henry Tax Review recommended and the Rudd government has accepted a new tax system for mining that builds on this...

Like Gold in a Coal Mine

photo credit: 10b travelling   Clear-eyed media commentary in the national interest is rare and sweet. Alan Mitchell's analysis of the Henry Tax Review in the Australian Financial Review -  A tax on all your economic rents  - is such a creature. He opens with a...

Henry Review Excellence

Ken Henry and his team's hard work looks to have paid off. Initial readings show the undeniable truth that land based taxes are the most efficient taxes. Look at the attached graph (via KPMG, not Henry) showing that The Resource Rent Tax, Municipal Rates and Land...

Expensive land is changing the shape of Australia.

  photo credit: Zach K   The Melbourne versus Sydney rivalry has been reignited - Melbourne’s population is growing faster and is projected to overtake Sydney by 2037, a new report predicts. Going Nowhere, a report by BIS Shrapnel for a property developer lobby group,...

The Tide Turns. The Media Awakes.

photo credit: midlander1231 For too long, the media eagerly reported the property spruikers’ claim ‘prices only go higher’. This ‘truth’ turned homeowners into speculators and led a whole generation of first home buyers to commit to enormous mortgages they will only...