Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to look at the recent history of proposals to tax resource rents in Australia, from Australia’s Future Tax System Report (the “Henry Tax Review”) through to the proposed Resource Super Profits Tax (“RSPT”) and then the Minerals Resource Rent Tax...

The paper argues that taxing economic rent is at the heart of the Henry Tax Review in Australia. Economic rent arises from monopoly. The tendency to monopoly is built into the way capitalism is organized. Competition leads to monopoly. The ongoing monopolization of the global economy and...

This draft paper looked at the then proposed introduction of a mechanism to impose a carbon price in Australia from 1 July 2012. (It has now been introduced and came into effect on 1 July.) It argues that the compensation package to ameliorate the impact of the carbon tax will prove illusory...

In this paper I use Marx's analysis of rent to try to understand the complexities associated with the attempts to tax resource rents in Australia. My aim is to dissect ground rent (what the landlord expropriates in capitalist society by virtue of being the owner of land) into its constituent...

Peasants, workers and other ordinary people have shaped our world. In this paper I look at their mass struggles over tax, often escalating into broader rebellions, revolts and revolutions against the status quo. This can start as battles within the elite, and end as solutions within the elite....

In this paper I use Marxist analysis to examine certain aspects of tax in Australia as a way to help understand the meaning or essence of tax reform. I argue that because of stagnant or declining profit rates globally progressive tax reform today can only be built through and on the back of...