Cost-Shifting Stamp Duty – Onto You
If taxpayers are to endure the upset of tax reform, then the change should be to best practice – the tax bases economists have identified as causing the least harm.
Tag tax reform
Dump Stamp Duties to help labour mobility
One of the biggest impediments to labour mobility are stamp duties levied on housing transactions. Stamp duties can add tens-of-thousands of dollars to the cost of changing home, leading to fewer transactions and discouraging labour mobility.
Negative Gearing is costing you a lot more than you think
In Sydney where the ABS says established houses are a median $670,000, at least $64,000 of that is due to ‘gearer competition displacing homebuyers via price. Given Sydney is ground zero of ‘gearer displacement, this is likely a gross underestimate of the price consequences.
The Sovereign State of Pigovia
Libertarians and conservatives denounce Pigovian taxation because it would serious decrease profits for those doing the cost externalisation e.g. the wealthy and big business. Because uncorrected external effects are so rampant and thus a sign of the grave inefficiencies of capitalism, they have to be denied to even exist.
Clyde Cameron advocates for Land Tax in Federal Parliament: 1968
Mr. Clyde Cameron AO was the member for Hindmarsh in South Australia. These speech extracts were published in Progress Magazine, December 1968. One of the biggest difficulties for people wanting to build a house today is to find a suitable…
The Natural Source of Public Revenue
By Clare Tindall. This is an excerpt of a piece that was originally presented almost 50 years ago, at a Georgist Youth Night in 1967. It was published in the October 1967 edition of Progress Magazine. It is at such…
A Speech For Land Tax – 1988 Victorian Parliament
This speech is taken from Progress Magazine Issue No. 936, February 1988. It’s by Morris Williams, member for Doncaster and a past president of Prosper Australia (then known as Tax Reform Australia). SPEECH FOR LAND TAX IN THE VICTORIAN PARLIAMENT…
Queensland’s Retrospective Theft
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.…
The eternal sunshine of the empty mind
The Queensland Supreme Court has struck out the differential rate some Queensland councils charge investors over and above residents on similar properties. Councils may be forced to pay it all back. $300 million a year is in doubt. This landmark…
Goody Goody Goody!
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…