photo credit: Paul Keleher Gavin R. Putland In light of the recent Tax and Transfer Review by the Federal Government, lobbying interests are moving to reduce capital gains taxes. The term “capital gain” contains a deliberate contradiction: real capital doesn’t…
photo credit: x_jamesmorris Wednesday’s release of the Architecture of Australia’s Tax and Transfer System review paper saw commentary by lobby groups attacking capital gains taxes. PETER ANDERSON, CEO ACCI: Our capital gains tax has not been looked at in an…
Residential rent crisis set to worsen RENTS are expected to jump another 10% this year after building approvals fell to their lowest since the end of 2006. Home-building approvals have dropped nearly 8% in a year, after falling another 0.7%…
State control urged as rent surges 12.7% is the headline that attracts our eager eyes in the Age today. Many of the city’s most affordable suburbs have been hardest hit, with the typical rent on a two-bedroom house in Oak…
Gavin Putland The ACT’s Land Rent Act, with promised savings of 79% compared to the standard mortgage-based system of home ownership, took effect on July 1. This is an innovative housing affordability policy. Here’s what I wrote about it a…
Leading Georgist author Fred Harrison was interviewed on the Renegade Economists last week regarding his new book The Silver Bullet. Download his 16 minute interview covering issues such as Botswana’s success, a critique of Jeffery Sach’s Resource Curse theory and…
Hear the author Fred Harrison interviewed on the Renegade Economists tomorrow. Make sure you are podcasting us so you never miss the show. Fred Harrison’s new book levels some very serious charges at the current leaders of the poverty industry.…
The tax unit for an asset-holding tax should be the asset! Gavin Putland Recommendation 10 of the Draft Report of the IPART Review of State Taxation suggests “changing the tax unit for land tax from joint ownership to the individual”…
Desperation in the housing market is leading to varied responses. The latest the Age has promoted is the Container Home phenomenon. Miners earning $100,000 have been forced into them in Port Headland and other fast growing mining communities. Now a…
Fred E. Foldvary In economics, the waste of resources caused by a tax has two names. One is the “deadweight loss,” a loss to the economy with no offsetting gain. The other name is the “excess burden,” since the burden…