The Dictionary of Sydney
Subjects
Politics and Government
Public policy
Taxation

The Dictionary of Sydney was archived in 2021.

Taxation

Subject

Bottom of the harbour scheme

Pitt Street farmer

Customs House

Free Trade and Land Valuers League

Land and Income Tax Office

Harding, William Neville

Contraband at Customs House, 11 July 1939

Custom House and Circular Quay 1845

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Taxation

Bottom of the harbour scheme

Tax avoidance schemes used during the 1970s.

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Pitt Street farmer

One who owns a country property, often for tax loss purposes, but who lives and works in Sydney.

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Customs House

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Public building on Alfred Street at Circular Quay where shipping was cleared and goods passing through the port of Sydney were taxed and cleared for sale or export. A number of Customs House buildings have stood on the site since since 1845 and it was designed and redesigned by three government architects Mortimer Lewis, James Barnet and Walter Liberty Vernon. When the port was busy the House was crowded and noisy, the scene of raised tempers, delays and disputed dealings. It was surrounded by public houses, shipping companies and general maritime activities.

In 1990 the building was closed as a customs departments and in 1994 was leased to the City of Sydney who refurbished the building for use as a multipurpose commercial space that opened in 1995. In 2005 Customs House reopened as the headquarters of the City of Sydney Library and function centre. In April 2019 the City of Sydney purchased the building from the Federal Government.

Free Trade and Land Valuers League

Lobby group whose philosophy was shaped by the beliefs of Englishman Henry George. He argued that a single tax on the value of land is economically efficient and fair and that many of the economic problems of society could be attributed to private ownership of land.

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