There is a growing opposition in New South Wales to Land Tax. Firstly it falls on about 300,000 people at the present time and raises about two billion dollars a year. This week a meeting was held in Balmain to look at it and the following facts were revealed. It was first imposed in 1895 before the Commonwealth was formed and was abolished in 1906. It was reintroduced in 1956, and has remained ever since. Some discussion in this forum would be helpful, as there must be lots of people who have opinions on it. Cases of its unfairness ought to be aired.

I believe it is inequitable and as such should be abolished. It is totally unfair that people should be inflated into a situation where they are forced to pay a tax on an untaxed property, simply because the land values around them have risen. I know they say kill the old folks off first, but to slowly tax and worry them to death, with land tax, after they have been working hard all their life to accumulate some assets seems grossly unfair to me.

It would appear that it was supposed to be abolished and replaced by GST. This has not happened, and someone should know why

Land tax is one of the reasons why there is a shortage of housing.In NSW 37% of a house/land package is made up of Govt taxes and charges.Is it any wonder that we have have so much poverty developing?

If we are are going to have a land tax,why also a share tax or a tax on non productive enterprises such as banking or insurance?

Govts will always go after easy targets and they don't care how real economic productivity is affected.This is part of the reason for the mess we are in now.

Land tax is cruel in every way.

Remember, back when the baby boomers were being raised by their families, the 60's and 70's, there were far fewer single parent families, very little walfare support and these toilers scripmed and saved to privide a future for themselves so as they would not be a burdon on either their families or society.

So they have paid thier taxes, provided for their own retirement and now they are taxed every which way possible. Why? Because there are simply to many mouths to support and not enough dollars to support them.

Remember, in many cases the land tax is more than TEN TIMES as much per year than they paid for the property when they bought it.

Sometimes the rental income does not even cover the costs (land tax and rates) and these are properties that have zero debt.

The old saying 'work hard and you will be rewarded' is quite simply, 'A JOKE'

there is nothing in any constitution that allows for land tax

never the less we are not under constituted juristiction[it is a little known fact we are run by lawyers and bankers,..who run the same sams with impunity..[this elite group does as it will[it runs the two party system,makes illegal a plant[declares wars on drug users and bikies,but not on ursury or child molestors

2 cmillion children are raised without parents,the real styolen generation,where brits are taken from poor brits[and abo-origonal, and our own urban poor,to become servants with no conscience that serve the party loyalties,that they got exploited[perverted]by the child-molestors and ursurors running this scam,is debateable

that we are run by people with loyalies to the party machine,not the people[with loyalties to civil law under contracted juristiction,not the constitution should come as no suprise]

yeah its all unconsionable as well as unconstitutional,but we are made helpless because they run the courts and the jails,not to mention the public edication as well as private institutional ser-vices,..who fill us with lies,dumbing down the people to pay as we go[to pay tax on wage[thinking it income]..because we wernt ever told different

but they sheeple have been dumbed down[with mercury preserved inoculations and mercury in our teeth,heavey metal-fleurides in our waters and the mind numbing flerided tooth-paste,to get whiter than white teeth and a passive atitude

so they meekly pay as govt orders,they mindlessly feel something is wrong[but the fee-ling goes away when we drink the required dose of water or brush our teeth[or just take a bath..then go watch the boob tube[or get our annual flue shot]..or compulsory guards-us-ill and other mandated vacinations[and mind numbing perscribed medications and gulp down our overtaxed booze]

anyhow my fav cop-show is on tv,gotta see how the fictions on tv are getting on[who is the biggest loser?]watch the clever cops foil some crim,or watch the medical gods heal some sick actor

anyhow complaint does nothing,i suggest just get a flue-shot and watch tv then brush your teeth and go to bed,forget about it all,and back to work in 4 days..lol

Everyone complains about the weather but no one does anything about it, is a lament often cited; Could we be so bold as to say that its time we did something about Land Tax. There are a whole lot of things wrong with Australia but when we fix Land Tax, we cannot simply abolish it and leave a monumental hole in the State budgets. We are told the take is $1.999 billion dollars. That is a whole lot of money. How can we abolish Land Tax without abolishing State Governments as well. The answer is that State Governments are going to have to realize that they are not Sovereign governments, and that the late Lionel Murphy was right in 1984, when he said:

Our legal system is based on the principle that there cannot be inconsistent laws. This principle operates at federal and State levels and whatever the source of law (constitutional, legislative, delegated legislative or decisional (common) law). If these laws would produce an inconsistency, then one prevails; the other or others are not law, and are often described as invalid or inoperative. The supremacy between what would otherwise be inconsistent laws is resolved in a number of ways. For example, where two laws emanate from one legislature, the later prevails. Where they emanate from different legislatures, constitutional law provides that one is superior, and its law will prevail. In Australian constitutional law, there are two general supremacy clauses, one in the covering clauses of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act (s.5) and the other in the Constitution proper (s.109). Another limited clause is s.105A (agreements with respect to State debts). Section 106 subjects State Constitutions to the Constitution; s.108 similarly subjects State laws to it.

If KR will simply open up the Federal Court of Australia and let them file a Constitutional challenge to Land Tax, and have the same court openly compete with the Supreme Court in New South Wales for business, it is highly likely that Land Tax will be declared illegal, and abolished. I guess that Nathan Rees will have cause to get angry again

Why shouldnt landowners be taxed? Especially rich and absentee ones.