TOTAL RESOURCE RENTS OF AUSTRALIA

government. The commercial property sector will boom with CBD locations hotly pursued due to the added cash flow allowed
by the removal of company, sales, payroll and income tax. Land values in these areas will rise, accounting for an estimated 16%
increase in the land-based commercial tax take. Similar trends occurred in Denmark in the late 1950s when these reforms
were proposed. 47
Land tax background
Those who own the earth have a natural advantage over those running a business or earning a wage. Classical economists
such as Adam Smith and David Ricardo believed the role of the tax system was not only to raise revenue, but to create a level
playing field between owners of natural advantages and those without such legal privilege. The by-product was a strong social
contract where inequity was minimised and efficiency enhanced. The free movement of capital was encouraged to its best and
highest use. Labour and capital were to operate in a low tax jurisdiction. The thinking recognised that high land prices drain a
productive economy of its potential.
“Those who own the earth have a natural advantage over those running a business or
earning a wage.”
A yearly land rent (or land tax) based on the locational value was the mechanism Classical economists hoped to rebalance
the advantage land owners have over workers and employers. The current system of land tenure gives an owner permanent
property rights for that location via a fee simple contract. It is a ‘one-off’ deal which locks out future generations from competing
(who, by definition cannot attend the sale or auction). The philosophy behind land tax is the titleholder owns the house but
leases the land in recognition that the earth is a gift to all. The methodology sees property owners maintain title over the land
for as long as they are willing to pay the market-based land rent (a fee annual contract). Property valuers determine land
valuations, just as they do for our municipal rates. This infers the sharing of land rent in place of most other taxes.
Land value tax – how does it work?
Land values act as a barometer for the amenities that service a location.
The advantage of living near a train station or library is reflected by higher land values. These publicly funded advantages result
in private windfalls. The recent Committee of Melbourne’s Moving Melbourne report identified the need for ‘value capture policy’
to finance the infrastructure deficit. 48 Lucy Turnbull has advocated similar policies in Sydney’s Cities Expert Panel. 49
“Television shows repeatedly promote ‘location, location, location’ as a vital real estate
investment strategy, but the economics profession prefers to ignore such instinctive
behaviour.”
Consider two identical parcels of neighbouring land. Block A pays existing taxes and interest on a mortgage debt, but no land
tax. Block B pays a land tax, but no existing taxes or interest on a mortgage debt. Over twenty years, both landowners pay
similar amounts. The choice is whether this payment goes to a bank or funds government in lieu of other taxes.
Land tax is in effect a counterweight to mortgage debt.
Today’s system encourages a lifetime of debt for the right to live in a community. The value of living in a community is the
economic rent, capitalised into the land price.
Seventy per cent of an Australian mortgage is generally the land component. Under the current system, we allow the banking
system to make 25 years of interest-based profit on the land component. There is little to no risk for money lenders in earning
70% of mortgage interest profit on the land component.
47 http://www.earthrights.net/wg/swot-denmark.html
48 http://www.melbourne.org.au/cms-policy/moving-melbourne
49 http://afr.com/p/national/call_to_tax_infrastructure_windfalls_vVz1GPfG2xzCLtPmuzftPI
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