133rd Henry George Commemorative Dinner Address by Professor Sock-Yong Phang, Singapore Management University, Kelvin Club, Melbourne, 15 August 2024 Value capture and affordable housing: insights from Singapore Good evening, everyone. Thank you, Dr Tim Helm for the kind introduction. And a big thank you to the Executive Committee members of Prosper Australia. I am […]
Prosper Australia Feed Items
What do land tax, Monopoly, and Australia have in common?
—The following opinion piece was written by Gareth Hutchens and published in the ABC on Sunday 31st March, 2024. It is reproduced here with permission. This piece of writing was part of a 3-part series, awarded the 2024 E.J. Craigie Writing Award.
Submission to the Inquiry into Local Government funding and services (Victoria)
—Prosper Australia is an economic research organisation founded in the Georgist tradition of political philosophy. Our work centres on the monopolistic nature of land and how it shapes our economy and society. We have a long history of research into property taxation and local government rating systems.  We wish to raise five points in relation […]
Budget ’24: Australia Needs a Tax Shift
—Prosper Australia condemns the latest Federal Budget as a missed opportunity for much-needed tax reform.
Helping families an empty promise for Victorians on public housing waiting lists – and Victorian businesses are paying the price.
—Prosper Australia today declared its disappointment at the state budget inaction on housing and tax reform. “The Housing Statement declared a goal of 800,000 new homes over the next decade, yet this budget contains only minor announcements on an increased construction for public housing,” said spokesperson Rayna Fahey. “We need dollars for dwellings, not developers.” […]
Supply targets alone won’t solve the problem
—Supply targets alone won’t solve the problem – we need redistribution and tax reform Prosper Australia today condemned the punitive approach taken by the Allan government to address housing supply, calling the strategy a complete miss of the mark. “Our research shows that Melbourne does not have a supply issue, rather an issue with distribution […]
Buying better income taxes with better land taxes
—3 million workers could benefit from tax shift Prosper Australia today released new research highlighting the economic benefits of shifting taxes off income and onto land. Report highlights: Low and middle income earners face effective marginal tax rates (EMTRs) on extra income as high as 80%. High EMTRs are a disincentive to work. Reducing high […]
The Great Housing Hijack – a new book by Dr Cam Murray
—The Great Housing Hijack is the latest book by Dr Cameron Murray. Here at Prosper Australia we have been following Cameron’s work for quite some time. Some of our supporters will remember his entertaining Henry George Commemorative Address in 2018. The Great Housing Hijack is a compelling read and explains the history of land prices […]
Changes to Stage 3 Not Enough: We Need a Tax Shift
—Tweaking individual policies will not deliver the change Australia needs: we must capture the consensus and commit to reforming our tax system away from earned and onto unearned income.
Why housing supply starts when speculation ends
—Prosper’s Director of Research and Policy, Tim Helm, was interviewed by Cameron Murray for the Fresh Economic Thinking podcast on 9 November 2023. Their conversation covered the relationship between the prices of land and housing, how to define and measure landbanking, incentives for landbanking, the relationship between landbanking and housing supply, and methodological issues in […]
How I learned to stop worrying and love land value uplift
—Presentation to the Planning Institute of Australia’s Victorian Conference, October 13, 2023 Today I want to take you on a rapid intellectual journey, a therapeutic crash-course, to convince you all to stop worrying about housing affordability – and instead, to learn to love high land values. Land takes the gains… Riddle me this: When planners […]
Landowners need to step up to the housing emergency – or get out of the way
—Prosper Australia today welcomed the announcement that the Vacant Residential Land Tax (VRLT) will be expanded to include suburban undeveloped and regional sites.
Victoria’s Housing Statement – A promising start, the details will determine success
—Victoria's new Housing Partnership shows a lot of promise. The devil will be in the detail. Prosper Australia unpacks the issues.
Australia: Made for Free Trade and a Tax on Rent
—132nd Henry George Address by Professor Ross Garnaut Australia: Made for Free Trade and a Tax on Rent (Transcript of speech recorded at the Kelvin Club, Melbourne, 7 September 2023. Lightly edited for clarity and brevity.) Thanks, Tim, and very good to be here with this group of people. Very good to know that such […]
In Australia, why do people who produce nothing get rewarded the most? – Waleed Aly
—If we’re going to have to rethink our tax system, rent-seeking seems a good place to start. Perhaps if we taxed productive profit less than its unproductive counterpart, we’d have the seedlings of a system better designed to meet what the Intergenerational Report warns us is coming.
Waleed Aly wins 2023 E.J. Craigie Writing Award
—Waleed Aly Wins E.J. Craigie Writing Award for best article reflecting the ideas of Henry George as a social and economic reformer.
Prosper Australia welcomes Inquiry attention to Stamp Duty to Land Tax transition
—Prosper Australia welcomes Inquiry attention to Stamp Duty to Land Tax transition Prosper Australia today commended the Victorian Legislative Council’s Inquiry into Land transfer duty fees for their careful attention to the difficult issues involved in transitioning from stamp duty to a land tax. Prosper Australia Director of Research and Policy, Tim Helm, says: “We […]
Submission to the Inquiry into the Rental and Housing Affordability Crisis in Victoria
—Legislative Council Legal and Social Issues Committee 7 July 2023 Thank you for the opportunity to submit to the Legal and Social Issues Committee’s inquiry into rental and housing affordability. Prosper Australia is an independent research institute formed over 100 years ago to further public knowledge of the teachings and principles of economist and land […]
In brief: Planning deregulation, Housing Supply and Affordability
—Planning deregulation, especially rezoning, has been repeatedly touted as a key policy solution to Australia’s eye watering house prices. The story goes that prices remain high because the supply of new dwellings in accessible, desirable locations has not kept pace with demand due to zoning restrictions. Rezoning for higher uses will increase supply and make […]
Community Land Trusts can progress Georgist theory
—My belief is that Community Land Trusts (CLTs) can demonstrate the benefits of recycling land rents for the common good. This will support the larger Georgist agenda with a micro version of the macro vision. It’s been 12 months since we started Grounded Community Land Trust advocacy. Our job is to support the CLT movement […]
Land Ownership Makes No Sense
—by Jehan Azad & Uri Bram Wired Magazine (published May 4, 2023). Reprinted with permission. “There’s no such thing as a good landlord” is a rallying cry of angry renters. In the future, it might be conventional morality that it’s simply wrong to own land. In our times, owning land seems as natural as owning […]