Was the late Harry Pollard correct in saying that it’s better to collect the nation’s rent and throw it into the sea than to tax wages and purchases?

Yes, according to classical economic theory, Harry Pollard’s provocative statement is theoretically accurate because taxing land rent causes zero economic distortion, whereas taxing wages and purchases actively shrinks the economy.

Understanding the Economic Mechanism

• Zero Deadweight Loss: Land has a perfectly fixed supply. Taxing its rental value cannot reduce the amount of land available, creating zero economic waste.
• Destructive Market Taxes: Taxes on wages discourage labor. Taxes on purchases discourage consumption. Both create massive economic deadweight loss by stopping mutually beneficial transactions.
• The “Sea” Paradox: Even if collected land rent is destroyed, the economy operates at peak efficiency. Conversely, traditional taxes damage productivity before the revenue is even spent.

Comparing the Economic Impact

Implementing the Core Strategy

1. Shift the tax base: Transition local revenue generation away from building improvements and toward underlying land values.
2. Eliminate productive penalties: Reduce or completely phase out municipal sales taxes and local income levies.
3. Capture unearned increments: Reclaim the community-created value of land location to fund public infrastructure.

Constraints

• Liquidity constraints: Land-rich but cash-poor owners (like pensioners) may struggle to pay high rent taxes without selling.
• Political resistance: Concentrated property owners fiercely lobby against land taxes, making them politically difficult to implement.

https://discoveryalert.com.au/mining-tax-royalty-payments-australia-company-tax-2024

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reveals that Australia’s GDP per capita has grown by 4.0% between the end of 2019 and mid-2026. This stagnation has put Australia on track for its weakest decade of living standards growth since World War I.

I’ve argued here that Australians can’t have both the highest per capita land prices in the world (which we have!) and a decent GDP growth per head. In fact, apart from a brief increase in 2025 we’ve been in virtual per capita recession since 2023.

Resulting from tax policy favoring property speculation over productivity, Australian GDP growth has gradually tanked since 1974 (arguably the peak of the K-Wave). That would also be confirmed by extending the chart below from 2019 as abovementioned.

Oh, well, that’s a case in which not too many people are interested, unfortunately.

The ALP National Conference starting in Adelaide tomorrow shows little sign of addressing the looming economic collapse.

Economic Warning Signs

The warning signs of a major financial crisis are already here:

• Bursting property bubble
• Skyrocketing living costs
• Plunging government popularity

Historical Precedents

Australian political history shows that economic downturns consistently destroy governments.

• 1975: Voters rejected the Whitlam government due to the brutal 1974 recession, which was triggered by a global property crash.
• 1991: Paul Keating successfully ousted Bob Hawke as Prime Minister during a severe real estate collapse.
• 2007: John Howard lost office as rising cost-of-living pressures peaked just before the property-led Global Financial Crisis.

The Current Reality

Given this history, it is remarkably strange that countering next year’s financial collapse is not the top priority for the ALP’s 50th national conference.

We ignore history at our peril.