photo credit: JosephLeonardo

Renegade Economists podcast

Professor Michael Hudson discusses the G20 plans (austerity for prosperity), natural monopolies as wealth extracting machines and China’s possible isolationist future in light of its increasingly useless trade surplus.

Listen here

Music by Lucky Dragon

First published in The Times as Tax land: it can’t be hidden from the Revenue

Filling the gaping hole in the Government’s finances is, in George Osborne’s words, the “great national challenge of our generation”. Unwise spending cuts and tax rises could sap economic growth; unfair ones provoke political unrest; inaction a market panic.

Faced with a national crisis, who better to turn to for advice than Winston Churchill? A century ago, the great man — who, like the present coalition, was both Liberal and Conservative — advocated introducing a land tax as part of a bold package of fiscal reforms. In his emergency Budget on June 22, the Chancellor should set up a commission to consider how best to implement that recommendation.

Taxing land values would be a fair way to help to plug the budget gap while stabilising — and even boosting — the economy. Land is routinely valued each year as property changes hands. With all the land in Britain worth perhaps £5 trillion, a 0.5 per cent levy could raise £25 billion a year — as much as a five-point rise in income tax.

Neither tenants nor leaseholders would pay a penny; only freeholders and landlords would, with the owner of a large estate paying a higher rate than someone who owns a small suburban semi. The proceeds could be used to cut the deficit and national insurance, creating jobs, boosting take-home pay and stimulating growth. Over time, the aim would be to shift the tax burden off hard-working families and on to idle landlords — as in Hong Kong, where revenues from land taxes keep income tax low, there is no VAT or capital gains tax, and enterprise flourishes.

Read more on Phillipe’s website

photo credit: M0les

Renegade Economists podcast

Joel Simo from the Melanesian Land Defence Group visited Australia recently via an Aid Watch.

Listen to his interview on the Renegades here…

In discussion with Green Left Weekly Joel says:

Customary land title represents the majority of land tenure in Fiji and Vanuatu and provides locals with food security.

This security provides certainty in times of economic downturn. MILDA argues that during the global financial crisis of 2009, very few people in these communities went without food or housing because of their access to traditional land.

Sukot told GLW: “During the economic crisis, it was very difficult for people in the cash economy. In the traditional economy, everything is very much dependent on land.

“People are able to provide basics for themselves even in economic crisis. The traditional economy is about sharing. This is different to the economy in the US, where the economy is based on selling.

Music

The Shepherd Island dancers were recorded at the 2008 Shepherd Alliance Party’s National Congress.

photo credit: striatic

Our submission to the Digital Dividend green paper for the sale of 4G Electro Magnetic Spectrum licenses.

Karl Fitzgerald

The electro magnetic spectrum is a scarce resource.

Over time it will increase in value, especially with the advent of new technology.

As such, the recent release of the iPhone 3GS has delivered windfall profits for the telco’s with the additional use of video/ web apps. 4G will dramatically speed up the search times and thus useability of the resource and technology.

In order for the public to gain a share of the naturally increasing value of the 4G resource:

A yearly EMS rent is to be paid by all EMS license holders at a fixed percentage, based on it’s ANNUAL value.

Property valuers and media consultants can quite easily determine the yearly value of a telecommunications license.

We propose a 10% annual licensee rental based on the yearly value.

This will keep a lid on speculative interests that may find motivation in flipping such a resource for exorbitant profits.

By doing so, the Rudd – Conroy government will help to keep a lid on the price of telecommunications, the very breath of the market system with it’s desire to deliver ‘perfect information’ to consumers.

Second placegetters in the I Want to Live Here film comp were Ghafouri Productions. A slick look at how communities are split apart by the speculative mentality dominating economic policy. Can you hold on? Please read on!

Ingrid Brooker’s winning entry for the $3000 I Want to Live Here film comp.

Well done Ingrid for a unique portrayal of these vital issues.

Check the photostream of the night’s festivities

The second part to the Silver Bullet.