Category Commentary

If land prices escalate, wages must suffer

In an interesting article in the Fairfax media today, purporting to provide the truth about declining wages in Australia, Jessica Irvine and Adam Gartrell fail to mention that David Ricardo, Adam Smith, JS Mill and Henry George had all said that…

Proposed removal of Site Value rating option

James Webster Parkdale, VIC 3195 March 7th 2018,   Dear DELWP, I object to key changes in the Local Government Act Review that undermine the revenue sovereignty of local Councils. I consider revenue sovereignty crucial to council’s political sovereignty. I…

OECD tries to do the impossible

  3 January 2018 International Co-operation and Tax Administration Division OECD/CTPA Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,           Circumvention of Common Reporting Standards (CRS)   May I respectfully suggest that the OECD has set itself an impossible task in endeavouring to…

From capitalism to rentierism?

Taxes on wages in Australia were fairly minimal until WWII, since which time they’ve been ratcheted up significantly. Federal taxes before the war consisted mainly of customs and excise charges and the federal land tax, introduced in 1910. The States…