Myths and mortar

Forget about releasing new state and commonwealth land. If we want to get serious about housing affordability, maybe it's time to re-think stamp duty, so that you pay it when you sell the house rather than when you buy it. Better still: why not stamp out stamp duty entirely and replace it with a land tax? Sure, these ideas may be taboo in election campaigns ... But then again, the solutions to our housing problems lie beyond the horizon of a three-year political cycle.