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...
BLOG: ACT
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...
Put away that cheque book, home buyers
photo credit: UGArdener This morning, Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Glen Stevens appeared on Seven Network’s Sunrise program to talk up interest rates and talk down the property market. Using tabloid television to broadcast RBA views is unprecedented. It...
Insights on Canberra’s Land Rent Bill
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 week before it became law. I...
An Independent A.C.T Taxation Policy
This article was presented at a late 1980's meeting prior to ACT self government and published in the Canberra Times. Terry Dwyer ACT finances will come from three sources - taxes, grants and borrowings. I do not propose to say much about borrowings because borrowings...
Canberra’s Leasehold Land System
by Leo Foley The primary source for this paper is “Canberra in Crisis” by Frank Brennan, 1971 The Road to Leasehold - the origins of the Canberra leasehold system.. Canberra is the offspring of politics and a social ideal. The politics were those of Federation and...