THE AGE ‘Letters’ 26 April 2025

Land tax rise works
Your correspondent (Letters, “Land tax increases will reduce rental supply”, 25/4) who has in the past, as a good citizen, provided our renting population with at least four properties has had enough and is selling up his rental stock. He tells us that 24,726 properties in Victoria were lost last year from rental stock, putting a huge additional demand on the rental market. But then he tells us that virtually all of those properties were purchased by owner occupiers.
My limited knowledge of economics and supply and demand principals suggests that no upward or downward pressure has been the result. Fewer rental properties and fewer renters. Everyone should have the opportunity to own their own home. So landlords, please keep selling.
We are tired of supporting your investment portfolios with generous tax benefits and I think the strategy of increased land tax is having the desired effect.
Judy Kevill, Ringwood

THE THINGS WE’RE NOT TOLD

Australians and New Zealanders went to World War I with the British because the House of Lords didn’t want imposed upon them the land tax that the 1909 ‘People’s Budget’ had sought.

Their lordships needed a distraction from any such social reforms, so they needed to promote the threat of war and loyalty to the Crown.

It was easy. With the Germans doing extremely well industrially and threatening to overtake Britain, they were obviously the ‘enemy’ – as was Britain’s Liberal Government itself. “Just look at them trying to reduce the building of six British battleships to only four!” “We want eight and we won’t wait!”

Worked into a veritable frenzy, Britons had no choice: they must go to war over anything considered to be a threat to the British Empire. And the killing of Archduke Ferdinand was certainly ‘it’!

And so it was that brave Australians and New Zealanders got to be slaughtered at ANZAC Cove at the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey.

We remember only the slaughter and the glory of wars – rarely the reasons behind them.

The world has two choices: –

The current model generates social division, viz,

1. People work to produce.
2. This creates wealth, together with surplus product, or ‘economic rent’.
3. The economic rent is captured by rent seekers only.
4. People and production are taxed.
5. Economies stall and founder.

An adjustment, to achieve social cohesion,

1. People work to produce.
2. This creates wealth, together with surplus product, or ‘economic rent’.
3. The economic rent is captured by the government on behalf of its citizens.
4. There is no taxation.
5. Economies thrive.
6. A universal income is delivered to all citizens.

People who have followed his impressive input will mourn the death of Pope Francis.

His work for the Church extended into the world of nature and economics. Francis saw capitalism and communism’s excesses, having expressed ideas quite similar to those held by Georgists in the encyclical Laudato Si. Despite these generating concern within the conservative clergy, they offer great hope for the oppressed people of the world.

Francis will be missed.

Hawker Britton

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As with much of the world, the political situation has changed rapidly in Australia over recent years. People demanding changes they’ve not been receiving from the major political parties have undertaken disruption of the two-party political system, fleeing to express deep concerns to independents and greens under the preferential voting system .

‘First past the post’ voting in America doesn’t lend itself to changing the two-party system, so disruptors have joined the extreme right wing of politics to elect a nincompoop real estate magnate as president of the United States. This clearly represents a vote of no confidence in status quo rather than confidence in Donald Trump’s socioeconomic ability.

There remain more than ‘rusted-on’ supporters of the Labor and Liberal National coalition parties in Australia. However, more and more people having been fleeing from parties committed rather to big business interests, to finance, insurance and real estate–the FIRE sector–than to the Australian people themselves.

The underlying theme seems to be that the world has become overly indebted and ‘financialised’ under ‘business-first‘ practices, such that people’s cost-of-living has become impossible.

The major Australian parties still haven’t got the message that if people have money to spend, instead of current impossible levels of household debt, both small and big business will prosper, along with all Australians. The desertion trend will likely remain if the parties proceed on their self-serving, politically destructive course.

Let’s trust independents and greens urgently press whatever minority government is elected to reform a disastrous tax regime that fosters property speculation, unaffordable housing and private debt over real wealth creation and a general prosperity.

Australia could learn much about how to reform our excessive levels of personal and corporate income tax from Singapore.

Also, about how to house our people properly.

Singapore’s tax regime isn’t perfect, having drifted somewhat from Thomas Stamford Raffles’ land rental system, but it does have lessons from which we might learn.

Maybe our next federal government will take up our urgently needed tax reform?

I am a happy soul!

HOWEVER, RENTIERS WOULD HAVE US BELIEVE THAT HIGH WAGES ARE A PROBLEM – NOT THEIR PRIVATISING OF OUR RENTS!

The interests of labour and capital are obviously aligned, but neoclassical economics has been designed by rentier interests to put labour and capital at each other’s throats.

MMT IS REALITY