by Dr Gavin Putland WORKERS (i) pay rent, (ii) help their employers to pay rent, and (iii) raise some of the next generation of rent-payers. LAND SPECULATORS (i) receive economic rent for the gifts of nature, (ii) take the credit for providing them, and (iii) lobby...
BLOG: Gavin Putland
Victoria to tax vacant properties into use
Premier Daniel Andrews announced a range of housing affordability measures Sunday, some of which will help. The eye-opener is the introduction of a Vacant Residential Property Tax at one per cent of the capital improved value on properties held vacant for six months...
Three unofficial state secrets about the housing problem
by Gavin Putland re-posted from his blog Secret 1: The purpose of encouraging home ownership is to create a majority of voters who own real estate and who therefore support policies that make real estate as expensive as possible, for the benefit of the biggest owners....
Cheap housing is good for business!
by Dr Gavin Putland reposted from grputland.com If you want to expand your business, you probably need to hire people. But you can't hire them unless they can afford to pay for housing within commuting distance of your business premises, out of wages that you can...
If you’re not a property investor, your retirement plans don’t matter, says IPA
by Dr Gavin Putland Professor Sinclair Davidson for the Institute of Public Affairs has written an “occasional paper” under the title “What politicians need to know about negative gearing”, opposing the known Labor policy of allowing negative gearing only for new...
Squaring the circle: The contradictory arguments against limiting negative gearing to new homes
By Gavin Putland. Cross-posted from Land Value Research Group. Of all the proposed reforms to negative gearing, the one with the best chance of being supported by a major political party — hence the best chance of getting through Parliament — is to disallow or...
Want a new GST? Sink the old one!
Changing the GST was always intended to be hard and is getting harder by the week. Under the so-called intergovernmental agreement on implementation of the GST, any change in the rate or the base required the unanimous approval of the Federal, State and Territory...
The Barometer of the Economy
Tues Oct 30th, 6.30pm 1/27 Hardware Lane, Melbourne Presenter: Dr Gavin Putland RSVP to this free event Dr Gavin Putland discusses the role of Australia's largest market - the land market - in influencing economic activity. In 2001, Bryan Kavanagh found that a high...
Ride for free or pay the fine
In his second budget, Victorian Treasurer Kim Wells is aiming for a surplus of $155 million, of which $109 million is due to increased fines. The Government has budgeted for $662.5 million in total fines, including $306 million from road-safety cameras, in 2012-13....
Developer Levies drive up land prices
10 November 2011 MELBOURNE:- The Growth Corridor Plan announced by the Baillieu Government presents Melbourne with big challenges. How to pay for the massive infrastructure needed is front and centre - and unmentioned in the Plan. “Demand for new and better transport...