Union calls for super profits tax to end housing crisis
The call comes ahead of today’s campaign launch at the National Press Club in Canberra
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The Federal Government should introduce a super profits tax to solve Australia’s housing crisis, one of the country’s largest unions has said.
The CFMEU, the main union for construction workers in Australia, commissioned research from Oxford Economics Australia to investigate the viability of using a super profits tax to address the nation’s social and affordable housing shortfall. The report found Australia needed 750,700 new dwellings to close the housing gap by 2041, which could comfortably costed by taxing excess earnings of corporate giants in Australia.
National secretary of the CFMEU, Zac Smith, will launch a campaign at the National Press Club in Canberra today, called End the Housing Crisis, Tax Super Profits and has called on the Albanese Government to commit to the new tax.
“The enormous scale of Australia’s housing crisis demands bold solutions,” Mr Smith said. “A super profits tax is the fairest way to raise the billions of dollars needed to guarantee every Australian has the basic right of shelter. Oxford Economics Australia has found we can close the yawning housing gap without discouraging investment or creating distortions in the market.”
He said such a tax would not affect 99.7 percent of businesses “because the tax only kicks in when corporations make astronomical profits”.
“The Federal Government has the opportunity to define its legacy as ending homelessness, boosting productivity and lifting millions out of poverty,” he said.
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The penthouse unit at 80 Columbus Circle in Manhattan spans 8,000 square feet and once set a price record for the city.
2 minEight is definitely someone’s lucky number—especially when a few zeros are tacked on at the end.
The top-floor unit of the 80-storey 80 Columbus Circle in Manhattan is coming to market for the first time in more than 20 years and asking a nice round $80 million.
The full-floor unit spans over 8,000 square feet and is part of the Mandarin Oriental Residences above the hotel in the Deutsche Bank Center. It has eight rooms with eight ensuite baths, each with its own walk-in shower.
It last sold in 2005 for a hair under $30 million to cosmetics executive Sandie Tillotson, a founding member and senior vice president at the Utah-based Nu Skin Enterprises. She agreed to purchase the unit in 2001 while the complex was under development as the Time Warner Center.
Today, the six-bedroom apartment features spacious living areas and views from every room, including a close-up view of Central Park and panoramic 360-degree vistas stretching to the Mario M. Cuomo Bridge, according to listing agent Eva J. Mohr of Sotheby’s International Realty.
“There are windows all the way around,” Mohr said. “The views are spectacular and there are no obstacles in front of the windows.
The apartment comes with a library and cinema, a primary bedroom with its own lounge, an oversized kitchen, a corner breakfast area with two glass walls and a utility room with caterer-level equipment and two sinks—one for prepping flowers and the other for bathing pets.
The 80th-floor unit has never been resold and was rarely used by the seller, according to information provided by the listing agency. The corresponding top-level unit in the complex’s second tower just sold. That unit once belonged to Related Companies boss Stephen Ross and sold for $50.7 million in an off-market deal last week.
“The one that went for $55 (sic) million was completely redone with marble and it was beautiful, but you don’t have the views,” Mohr said.
When Tillotson bought the property, the $30 million contract was a record price for a condominium, according to the New York Times. In 2005, the apartment was delivered as “8,200 square feet of raw space” and Tillotson brought her own team to do the interiors, the Times reported.
Tillotson’s Nu Skin is a seller of anti-ageing and wellness products that was founded in the 1980s and is active in more than 50 international markets, particularly in China. The publicly traded company has also recently expanded into India. Nu Skin has several thousand permanent employees at its Provo, Utah, headquarters as well as tens of thousands of salespeople worldwide.
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