The Common Wealth

The unimproved value of Australia’s privately controlled land and resources currently stands at almost $2 trillion. A rental charge on this of 7.3 % would yield $140 billion – enough to finance current government commitments. Mind you, we already pay site rents and taxes out of our wages. This proposal simply replaces existing taxes on labour and exchange by diverting site rents from the private to the public coffers, and leaving wages in the hands of those who produce them. Consider the benefits of such a change; It would allow us to abandon a system that, paradoxically, penalises employment, enterprise and thrift by taxing them. The resulting resurgence in industrial and commercial activity would see wage levels rise and involuntary unemployment disappear. Its incidence is progressive, equitable and just. It is unavoidable. Sites can’t be hidden or spirited offshore. It is immune to cyberspace profit and currency manipulation. It would undermine the "cash economy" With an annual rentable value replacing "selling price", land speculation would be impossible. Poorly utilised land, currently hoarded by speculators, would be forced onto the market, increasing its availability for residential, commercial, industrial or agricultural purposes. Existing patterns of occupation and security of tenure would be unaffected; Options Australia - December 1999 Tony O'Brien