By Bryan Kavanagh and David Collyer This week’s game-changer, the Property Taxes paper by Grattan Institute has a minor error on land valuation that needs correcting before it becomes a gift to the opponents of reform. Grattan is acutely aware…
Cr Stephen Mayne invited a Prosper presentation at the Future Melbourne meeting last night. This followed on from the February MCC meeting I presented to in reaction to the short sighted Victorian Government decision to cap local council rating. Cr Mayne had asked…
Prosper usually looks at macro economics yet a micro example of what can go wrong in the property market – very, very wrong – might aid your concentration. Andrew, a Sydney ‘investor’ bought properties in Mackay and Blackwater Queensland, “when…
Last night I attended the Melbourne City Council’s Future Melbourne Meeting to speak on the dangers the Andrews Government rating cap has placed on council revenue raising. Cr Stephen Mayne had an interesting motion that caught my eye via twitter:…
Have u signed up to our Evolving Economics Enews yet? Subscribe here. If you are already a subscriber and noticed some of the links were missing in ‘The Private Earth’ section, they’ve been fixed below so you can connect to the interview with…
“Victorian Labor’s capping of local council rates plays straight into the hands of Tony Abbott’s pro-GST revenue centralisation agenda” stated Prosper Australia Project Director Karl Fitzgerald. “The integrity of Victoria’s local council rating independence was dealt another blow by the…
The new Andrews Government provides a fresh opportunity for reviewing the role of state revenues. The current property bubble has provided a windfall in Stamp Duty revenues allowing for considered reform. The hot topics the State government must address to…
Midnight Wednesday, the Queensland Parliament amended the Local Government Act and the City of Brisbane Act to legalise the theft of around $2.3 billion in differential rates charged by 20 councils on non-resident owners over the last twenty years.…
Sometimes, through the smoke and fireworks of the national debate a political commentator sees the path forward and points the way. Today in the Australian Financial Review, Alan Mitchell takes a far-sighted approach to the crisis provoked by the Abbott…
Glen Byrnes, NSW Executive Director of the Property Council of Australia has a Fairfax op-ed out on the Fire Services Levy that has me seething. You will be too when you understand the filthy game he is playing. Victoria’s Fire…