by Philip Soos reposted from The Guardian When we hear talk about taxation, it is naturally assumed to refer to those taxes which are levied by the government. After all, no individual or business can charge anyone else a tax, right? From the 1980s onwards in the...
BLOG: wealth gap
Humans vs Houses: Australia’s perverse tax system
by Cameron Murray Reposted from macrobusiness I often joke that my investment property earns more than I do. Thinking more about this lead me to the realisation that my investment property has a privileged position in the tax system when compared to a measly old human...
Rentals Brittle, Under Pressure
Last week the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) held a seminar in Melbourne on the serious stresses on renter households that have emerged over the last twenty years. Dr Wendy Stone from Swinburne found: • A decline in overall private rental...
Welfare offers rich pickings for the wealthy
“The greatest source of redistribution to the rich occurs through the land market, which is usually the largest tangible market in modern economies.”
How government policy provides rich pickings for Australia’s billionaires
Philip Soos' latest withering attack on privilege from The Conversation today. Over the last year or so, the Occupy movement has garnered wide attention, with people of all backgrounds gathering to protest the deteriorating social conditions. However, these grievances...
NSW Stamp Duty a foul and putrid mess
photo credit: dcmasterBarry O’Farrell was elected Premier of NSW in March this year. His first budget announced Tuesday raised a storm of protest – not over a realignment of government priorities to his conservative Coalition’s agenda, but on Stamp Duty. The previous...
How Financial Oligarchy Supplants Sovereignty
photo credit: George Laoutaris Will Greece Let EU Central Bankers Run Riot Over Sovereignty? Michael Hudson When Greece exchanged its drachma for the euro in 2000, most voters were all for joining the Eurozone. Their hope was that it would ensure stability, and that...
Land greed drives Arab fury
Arab cities lack even the basic facilities we take for granted in the West. The royals live alongside. Their giant palaces nestle in irrigated manicured gardens surrounded by high walls and efficient security.
She’ll be right, mate
Last Thursday, the Australian Financial Review leaked Treasury forecasts that the revenues lost in the Gillard Government’s back down on the mining tax will exceed $100 billion over the next ten years
The pain in falling land prices
photo credit: Travis S. The US housing market is a living hell. Homeowners are being boiled alive. The price of land was bid up to staggering multiples of incomes, until it no longer made sense to buy a house. And then the trend turned, hard and fast. One in five US...