Government reform is a grind. It chews up political capital and can destroy public careers in a moment. Change provokes furious responses from vested interests while those who gain are dispersed and ungrateful. WA Treasurer Mike Nahan has solved this problem at a...
BLOG: land tax
Australia cries ‘Aorta!’
Australians love to whinge about our bust federal system. It is a national sport where we stand around with hands in pockets and call out “Aorta!” “Aorta deregulate!” “Aorta fund schools! “Aorta cut taxes!” “Aorta build roads! Consider our public hospitals - which...
Do we at last have an Infrastructure Prime Minister?
Over the weekend, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull delighting Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk by announcing a federal contribution of $95 million for the Gold Coast light rail project. Journalists have leapt on this new policy stance, different from the...
Freebairn & Stewart: Let’s talk tax.
Professors John Freebairn and Miranda Stewart have penned an opinion piece today in The Age with a welcome call for state tax reform that could save taxpayers tens of billions every year. Most taxes carry deadweight losses - value destroyed as behaviour is distorted...
Dan Tehan wants to end Stamp Duty – for a big new GST???
MHR Dan Tehan (Liberal, Wannon) had an op-ed in today's Australian Financial Review, States dragging their heels on tax reform, criticising them for clinging to very bad taxes, notably Stamp Duty on property conveyancing. “Home buyers across the country are still...
Victoria to cap the single best tax base available
The Andrews government is capping local governments rate rises to CPI after fifteen years of six per cent rises in a low inflation environment. Minister for Local Government Natalie Hutchins’ Fair Go Rates System, administered by the Essential Services Commission,...
Abolish All Taxes
Letter to the Editor Australian Financial Review Sept 1, 2015 Proponents of increasing either payroll tax or the GST are like Tweedledum and Tweedledee, dancing around and seeming to argue, yet holding hands ("Payroll tax surfaces as the next GST", AFR August 28). If...
Another day, another parliamentary inquiry
The House of Representatives economic committee inquiry into Home Ownership was opened with fanfare and encouraging comments by chair John Alexander (Liberal, Bennelong): "Some have said we are on track to becoming a Kingdom where the Lords own all the land and the...
Political cowardice, bad taxes and the FIRB furball
The Australian people are being distracted from the main game by a mad side-show over foreign nationals buying our land. The sheer scale of this buying is further inflating our sorely overheated property market, imposing great costs on first-time buyers, giving a free...
12km of cost-shifting – onto working stiffs like you
The Property Council of Australia was out again yesterday, sternly defending the land from pesky taxes and ‘value capture’. Well, their land. The ACT branch said its members "applaud the ACT government's vision" for the 12-kilometre tram linking the city and...