Cheap as chips – unless government has a hand in it – Tim Colebatch, The Age 25/4

Dear Editor,

Although Tim Colebatch’s piece (“Cheap as chips – unless the government has a hand in it” 25/4) does include the 40% increase in the cost of homes/renovations over the last ten years, it fails to include the 116.3% increase in Australia’s land prices. ABS Catalogue 5204.0 Table 61 shows that Australia’s total land prices rose from $1.7033 trillion in 2002 to $3.6841 in 2012. This is surely an important ‘non-government’ expense in which many Australians have been involved over the last ten years?

Bryan Kavanagh

…  and they’ll be paying it off for 30 years!

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.