It’s been a big week for property tax. On Sunday we learned the new NSW government was extending stamp duty concessions for first home buyers and will introduce legislation this week to scrap the former government’s ‘opt-in’ stamp duty to land tax scheme. We don’t think that’ll do much for first home buyers – they’ll […]
Prosper’s submission to the Victorian Legislative Council Inquiry into Land Transfer Duty Fees reflects our evolving thinking around the core motivations for the reform. 14 April 2023 Prosper Australia is an independent research institute focused on the management of land and other natural resources through taxation. Prosper was formed over 100 years ago to further […]
Prosper’s latest report sounds a cautionary note for policymakers placing market supply at the centre of affordable housing policy. Report author, Dr Tim Helm, Prosper’s Director of Research and Policy, described the report, entitled “Melbourne’s pandemic rental dynamics: an (un)natural experiment in excess supply,” as an exploration in data of housing market imbalances through the […]
Friday May 5th, 2023 6:30pm School of Political Economy, Level 1, 49 Smith Street. Free event. All welcome. Register at Eventbrite Henry George (1839-1897) rose to fame as a social reformer and economist amid the industrial and intellectual turbulence of the late nineteenth century. In 1886 he was almost elected the Mayor of New York […]
Tuesday 21st March The Kelvin Club, 14-30 Melbourne Pl, Melbourne VIC 3000 map 5:30pm Join us in-person we present findings from our latest research note – Pandemic rental dynamics: an (un)natural experiment in excess supply by Jesse Hermans and Tim Helm. You’d never get ethics permission for an experiment like this. Take a city of 5 […]
Prosper provided feedback to the Commonwealth’s draft Housing Legislative Package – Housing Australia Future Fund Bill, National Housing Supply and Affordability Council Bill, and Amendment Bill which was on exhibition over Christmas. If enacted, these bills will give effect to the Government’s key election commitments in relation to housing – the establishment of the $10 billion […]
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. Prosper Australia has critiqued this reasoning, leading to some bewilderment among fellow economists. Prosper […]
Times are turbulent and changing: pandemics, wars, energy crises, climate disasters, inflation, a new government. In this very challenging context, the Albanese government has handed down its first budget. The budget is in many ways foundational. It covers what Labor took to the election, but also paints an ugly picture. If things don’t change the […]
Prosper’s outgoing Director of Advocacy, Karl Fitzgerald, picked up the EJ Craigie Award for best Georgist writing at the 2022 Henry George Dinner and Address. His opinion piece “Forget red or green tape, developers squeeze housing supply with gold tape” appeared in The Age, July 26 2022. The article formed part of Prosper’s media campaign […]
On September 14, 2022 we descended on the Kelvin Club (and online) to listen to Economist Brendan Coates delivering a sobering, hopeful evidenced based address. The 131st Henry George Commemorative Address Dinner and Address attracted a diverse crowd from across Australian civil society. There was a strong presence of economists, planners, housing advocates, policy makers […]