Housing policy is a stark point of difference at this election. While the government took promising steps to set up social housing finance, it has yet to give any sign it will finish what it started.
Who is entitled to the increase in value created by planning approvals, new infrastructure, population growth or urban development? For John Stuart Mill, the answer would have been the community.
Housing experts writing for The Conversation largely agree on the government policies that are causing negative distortions in the market and the wider economy. And supply is not the key concern.
The Economics Society of Australia (ESA) Monash Forum polled economists on whether capital gains tax deductions for housing investment should be removed.
Federal treasurer Scott Morrison’s diagnosis of the risks and challenges confronting the Australian economy is hard to fault. But tackling those problems will require flexibility from the government.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said that Australia spends more at a Commonwealth level on negative gearing and capital gains tax discounts than it does on child care or higher education. Is he right?
A decent national housing policy is not just about the million or so Australians who are in housing need, marginal housing or homeless. In reality, all the housing sectors are connected.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has warned that Labor’s negative gearing policy would deliver “massive shocks” to the residential housing market and drive all investors away. Does that claim stack up?
The Turnbull government desperately needs a circuit breaker. It is in an appalling mess over tax policy and it can’t afford to wait until the budget to have it sorted out.