Author Archives: Bryan Kavanagh

Talking of “old”, I came across a group of old email exchanges I saved from the Longwaves list to which I belonged until the list folded in the early noughties. (As usual, vitriolic personality clashes from a hopelessly intense handful was the main part of the problem.)  Otherwise, we had some very good discussions and [...]

  You say we need more funds to tackle poverty, homelessness, health, the environment, education and infrastructure? I say instituting the Henry Tax Review is a BIG step towards solving those problems.

A public meeting held at the Brolga Theatre Maryborough on 8 May heard Dr Putland explain the manner in which those on minimum rates in the Fraser Coast municipality are subsidising the wealthy. The Fraser Coast’s mayor was not looking well in The Chronicle’s coverage of the meeting. You say we need more funds to [...]

The second item in today’s Victorian API news demonstrates the Australian Property Institute is losing its way: “Property taxes shoulder Vic budget THE Victorian government is becoming addicted to property taxes, which will raise over $6 billion in forward estimates for the 2013-14 Victorian State Budget.” [My emphasis] Now “becoming addicted to property taxes” is [...]

Was Mason Gaffney on the mark, or not, in November 1986? BOTTLING THE AIR – by Mason Gaffney “Don’t you know that if people could bottle the air, they would?  … there would be an American Air-Bottling Association …. they would let millions die for want of breath, if they could not pay for the [...]

Tim Colebatch’s article Tolling existing freeways on wish list in THE AGE today warrants a response. The Property Council of Australia has produced a report Supercharging the Victorian Economy which obviously doesn’t want property investors to pay their fair share of the uplift in values new infrastructure provides.  They prefer instead:- Melbourne’s freeway network should [...]

BANK BUBBLES AGAIN Talking about frank analyses of bank bubbles, I was just watching Alan Kohler with ANZ Bank’s Mike Smith on the topic on the ABC’s “Inside Business” this morning. Desultory conversation skirted around the point of a banking bubble and, after touching upon Australian banks’ high P/E ratios and ROEs relative to other banks, [...]

Another record profit off the back of the world’s greatest residential real estate bubble. How on earth was Westpac, like the other big three, able to manage that one? Quelle surprise! But what about its risk management? Remember, Westpac nearly fell at the late 1980s commercial bubble hurdle, at the same time the State Bank [...]

Good stuff on THE AGE letters pages today:- Not fit for purpose Under an income tax, expenses are deductible against income only if they’re incurred in earning that income. Negative gearing violates that rule: a loss on your investment property is deductible against your salary although it’s not related to earning your salary. Meanwhile the [...]

Want to hear a good interview by Karl Fitzgerald with Ron Johnson, union official and secretary of the Association for Good Government, Canberra? So there is a natural form of industrial relations! You say we need more funds to tackle poverty, homelessness, health, the environment, education and infrastructure? I say instituting the Henry Tax Review [...]