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But how are you going to pay for it?

Victoria is one of the richest places in the world, endowed with natural resources, farmlands and advanced technologies in every industry. There is more than enough for everyone to lead a comfortable life. The problem is that our resources are unevenly distributed: all the things we need to provide for society are in the hands of private industry, whose main priority is to make profits for themselves. The result is tremendous inequality. At a time when average annual earnings are $68,000, the country’s ten richest people each hold on average $23 billion in wealth, according to the Australian Financial Review. We need wealth redistribution to make sure everyone has a good life, not just the rich. To do that, we need to raise extra government revenues from big businesses and the ultra-wealthy to fund projects and services that meet the needs of everyone.

What we think

  1. All economic value is created by labour. When one group of people comes to control wealth significantly beyond what they could have obtained through their own labour, it is because they have taken it from others.
  2. At a minimum, strong redistributive policies should be in place to redress wealth inequality, which is the result of a theft perpetrated against the working class.
  3. Public services and infrastructure should be paid for by taxes on the wealthy, which are a way of giving back to working people what has already been taken from them.
  4. Ultimately, progressive taxation, nationalisation and other measures, such as workers’ control over production, should be used to push towards a socialised and democratic economy that works in the interests of the majority. 

What we'll fight for

  1. Apply a luxury properties tax on the top 1 percent of most valuable residences in Victoria, charged at 5 percent of their last sale price per year. There are 25,000 residences in the top 1 percent. At a conservative estimate, if they are worth on average $10 million, this would raise $12.5 billion per year.
  2. Apply a 10 percent wealth tax on billionaires and a 10 percent tax on assets owned by foreign billionaires in Australia.
  3. Double the payroll tax for large companies and trusts.
  4. Double the payroll tax owing on all casual employees. An estimated 600,000 workers in Victoria are causal or insecurely employed and earn a median annual wage of $26,000. A doubled payroll tax of 9.7 percent would raise $1.5 billion per year.
  5. Victoria taxes fossil fuel companies 3 percent royalties, the second lowest rate in the country. Increasing royalties on all coal, gas, oil, base and precious metals and minerals to 35 percent would raise $1.6 billion.
  6. Impose a state-based Bank Super-Profits Tax on the biggest five banks operating in Victoria at 20 percent of annual profits, calculated in proportion to Victoria’s gross state product (22.9 percent), with legislation to prevent the cost being passed on to customers to raise $1.1 billion per year.
  7. Impose a Major Retailer Super-Profits Tax of 20 percent on any retailer earning over $100 million in profit nationally per year raising at least $8 billion per year.
  8. Impose other super-profits taxes on businesses earning significantly higher profits by expanding windfall tax provisions.
  9. Rip up Crown Casino’s one dollar per year lease agreement and charge market rent on its Southbank site. Crown occupies 510,000 square metres. Charging $570 rent per square metre (the 2022 average for prime commercial stock in Southbank) would raise $290 million per year.
  10. Rip up the $1 per year leases real estate on Boathouse Drive held by rowing clubs associated with elite universities and schools, including the Melbourne University Boat Club, rowing facilities held by the Methodist Ladies College and Carey and Caufield Grammar Schools and the Banks, Mercantile, Melbourne, Yarra Yarra and Richmond Rowing Clubs and charge market rent.
  11. End land tax exemptions and other write-offs for private schools, religious institutions and other elite “charity” institutions.
  12. Generate new revenue streams by putting public infrastructure and utilities back into public hands.
  13. Increase taxes on the gambling industry (casinos, racing, sports betting, pokies).