How would we pay for it?

Creating an economy and society that works for everyone will cost a lot. Fortunately, there is no shortage of wealth in our society. The problem is that more and more of it is concentrated in the hands of the wealthy few, while billions in public money are handed to big business through subsidies, tax concessions and lucrative government contracts.

NSW is home to the largest number of billionaires and high net-worth individuals in the country. They live a life of opulence, raking in huge profits through the exploitation of workers and pillaging of the natural world. Among them is property developer Harry Triguboff, one of Australia’s richest people. In a state experiencing an acute housing crisis, it is telling that enormous fortunes have been made from turning housing into sources of private profit.

NSW Socialists reject the idea that workers and the poor should be made to pay for the public housing, hospitals, schools, transport and services we desperately need. The money should come from those who can afford it: billionaires, big corporations, property developers, mining companies and the super-rich.

We would introduce a range of measures to redistribute wealth and make the richest sections of society pay more, including:

• Applying a luxury properties tax on the top 1 percent of most valuable residences in NSW, charged at 5 percent of their last sale price per year
• Applying a 10 percent wealth tax on billionaires and 10 percent tax on assets owned by foreign billionaires in Australia
• Doubling the payroll tax for large companies and trusts
• Introducing heavy taxes on vacant investment properties, land banking and speculative property holdings.
• Ending tax concessions, subsidies and other government handouts to major developers and big corporations.
• Dramatically increasing royalties paid by coal mining corporations for extracting resources that belong to the people of New South Wales.
• Imposing a levy on private jets landing at Sydney airport—$5,000 landing fee for planes valued at more than $500,000.

We would also stop allowing private corporations to profit from services and infrastructure that should belong to everyone. Bringing energy, transport and other essential services back into public ownership would mean that revenue currently flowing to private shareholders could instead be used to improve services and reduce costs.

Many of our major policies would also create ongoing public revenue. A massive expansion of public housing would provide secure homes while generating rental income for the public system. A publicly owned energy network could return its revenues to the community rather than private investors. A state-owned bank could provide low-interest finance to working-class households and invest its earnings in socially useful projects rather than maximising returns for private shareholders.

There is more than enough wealth in New South Wales to guarantee everyone a decent life. The real question is who controls that wealth and what it is used for. NSW Socialists want to take wealth and power away from the billionaires and corporations who have benefited from the current system and use it to provide housing, services and a secure future for everyone.