Planning deregulation, especially rezoning, has been repeatedly touted as a key policy solution to Australia’s eye watering house prices. The story goes that prices remain high because the supply of new dwellings in accessible, desirable locations has not kept pace...
By Li YiLin Value capture type reforms are underway in Victoria and New South Wales. Both governments aim to increase contributions from people who benefit from public decisions that increase land values, known as value capture,...
Prosper prepared the following opening statement to the Commonwealth Tax and Revenue Committee's inquiry into housing supply and affordability: Prosper Australia welcomes the focus of this enquiry into the role of taxation and supply on housing affordability. We are a...
Media release: Windfall Gains Tax Good for Regional Communities. Tomorrow (16 November) the Victorian Parliament will vote on legislation to introduce a Windfall Gains Tax.
This event was held on Wednesday, September 1, 2021, over Zoom. We all want to know “what’s next?” after the pandemic. The right to a roof over our head (and some land upon which to stand) has been especially highlighted by this global crisis. Who better to make sense...
Homebuyers might be wary of taxing rezoning windfalls, because they worry it will increase the sticker price of housing. The property industry says that taxing rezoning windfalls will increase the cost of housing because the tax will be passed on. They also say that...
Vacant Residential Land Tax is ineffective in curtailing property vacancies in Melbourne. Policy must prioritise housing as a human right, not a profit generating tool. Budget housing policy will drive up land prices, countering the need for fairer post-covid housing...
According to the lovely Dr. Elizabeth Taylor over at RMIT, parking in Melbourne's city centre now occupies the equivalent of 225 MCGs. The main reason for this bounty: minimum car parking requirements in the planning scheme. These requirements compel developers to...
The Productivity Commission’s recent five year review, “Shifting the Dial”, brings the welcome recommendation of a shift from stamp duties to a broad-based land tax. Stamp duty is a dud tax from the economist’s point of view; it doesn’t achieve an obvious...
Economist Peter Abelson has dropped a bomb on Sydney’s madly expensive land market, asserting the usual demand and supply equations have little influence on prices while major positive benefits are available from ending Stamp Duty and using land tax. His views only...