How will we 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 $81,286, the country’s ten richest people each hold on average $20 billion in wealth. 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 the exploitation of 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.

We’ll fight to

Taxes on wealth and property

1. Apply a 10 percent wealth tax per year on billionaires living in Victoria and a 10 percent tax on assets in Victoria owned by billionaires living outside Victoria.
2. 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.

Taxes on business and industry

1. Double the payroll tax for large companies and trusts with wages above $5 million.
2. Double the payroll tax owing on all casual employees.
3. Increase royalties on all coal, gas, oil, base and precious metals and minerals, currently ranging from around 2.75 percent to 10 percent depending on the resource, to a flat 35 percent.
4. Impose a state-based Bank 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.
5. Impose a Major Retailer Super-Profits Tax of 20 percent on any retailer earning over $100 million in profit nationally per year.
6. Impose other super-profits taxes on businesses earning significantly higher profits by expanding windfall tax provisions.
7. Increase taxes on the gambling industry (casinos, racing, sports betting, pokies).
8. Impose a $5,000 landing fee for all private aircraft valued over $500,000 landing at Victorian airports, exempting emergency, medical and firefighting aircraft.

Public assets and leases

1. Immediately end Crown Casino’s one dollar per year lease agreement and charge market rent on its Southbank site.
2. Immediately end the $1 per year leases on Boathouse Drive held by rowing clubs associated with elite universities and schools.
3. End land tax exemptions and other write-offs for private schools, religious institutions and other elite “charity” institutions.
4. Generate new revenue streams by putting public infrastructure and utilities back into public hands.
5. Audit and terminate unnecessary state government consulting contracts, redirecting the savings to public services.