Baillieu’s new Building Tax and Land Subsidy
“This reform means Victorians have a new building tax while the value of our fire service boosts the price of land."
Tag land tax
Making a Fortune Without Lifting a Finger
Our colleagues in the UK are making good headway into the political process. Here in Australia, despite leading research on the topic, politicians shake in their boots when they consider the property lobby.
Big Holes or Money Pits?
Major transport projects costing billions are being proposed for Sydney and Melbourne to shrink these sprawling cities. NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell’s plans to ‘fix’ Parramatta Road by ripping it up and installing the M3 in a cut-and-cover tunnel. The poor…
Yes Please, Treasurer Baird!
The NSW Treasurer flew a kite in Saturday’s AFR (Baird flags insurance levy reform in budget). We should all come to attention and salute a positive change. We pay for fire fighters through a charge on insurances – in NSW,…
LVT and Land Use
Frank de Jong highlights how the privatisation of the naturally rising value of land plays out on a city and the developments that both do and don’t result because of this. A great learning piece.
Tax reform and climate change
The Productivity Commission has just released a draft report on climate change adaptation for public comment. The report examines economic reform options in two broad categories: adaptations to uncertain future climate trends with benefits only under certain climate change scenarios…
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…
Repeal Stamp Duty!
Buying a home is a major life-event. Most people need a mortgage to bridge the gap between their savings and house prices. But the Victorian government imposes Stamp Duty at this critical point, increasing the capital needed and lengthening mortgage repayments by an average seven years. Many citizens are either excluded or deterred from home ownership by this extra cost, which traps them in the rental market. We are all diminished.
There is a better way. Remove this burden and fund the change by ending the principal residence exemption from State Land Tax an efficient and just way to fund government.
Global financial collapse – what’s happening to us?
Bryan Kavanagh blogs at thedepression.org.au His latest tirade nails rentiers and land speculators. Many attempts to analyse the cause of the GFC contain more than a grain of truth. The vast majority, however, provide no useful hint to a remedy.…
Psst! Stamp duty can be avoided
As the Fairfax papers reported on April 14, the NSW government has rejected yet another recommendation to replace conveyancing stamp duty by a broad-based land tax. That is the effect of the “stamp duty replacement tax” recommended on page 13-4 of…