A leaked report reveals the full extent of the household levy considered but rejected by the ACT government in 2014 to raise money for light rail.
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The government ruled out a levy after The Canberra Times first raised questions.
But the Capital Metro document, from January 2014, shows the extent of the work on a levy, which was modelled at $50 to $500 a year, for five to 20 years, across the city or confined to households within a kilometre of the line.
The government refused to release the "value capture" report despite Freedom of Information requests in 2014 and this year. But it has now been leaked a week before the election, the timing presumably aimed at doing maximum damage to the Labor government.
The document concludes the major opportunity to raise revenue is "relaxation of current policy settings in relation to the scale and scope of land development (public and private) within the corridor".
It models the sale of 11 properties but also lists 27 properties "in scope", among them the Dickson Pool site, and the Convention Centre.
"There would be significant merit in considering the expansion of land sales as a value capture instrument," the report says.
A Labor spokesman yesterday said that idea had been rejected by government.
"Dickson pool is not for sale. Not now. Not ever," he said. The convention centre would be sold once a new Australia Forum was built, with the money put towards the new centre, he said.
The Capital Metro report says the sale of 11 blocks would create 4900 new dwellings, and 388,000 square metres of commercial and retail space between 2016 and 2022.
But "land supply policy may need to be adjusted".
"Probably the most challenging market constraint is the actual demand for housing ...
"A disproportionate increase in corridor population compared to the ACT population will see a distribution of housing demand away from other areas of Canberra to the corridor."
It points to work showing the populations of Woden and Tuggeranong going backwards as numbers surged in the project corridor.
The document says a levy has "distinct advantages in that it can be easily defined, targeted and ceased" and "ultimately it can also be redefined as required to capture value in latter parts of the corridor".
The report models levies that last five, 10, 15 or 20 years, from as little as $50 to as much as $500 a year.
If all households paid, it would raise $35 million to $37 million at the lower end ($50 a property for five years), to as much as $1.14- million to $1.25 billion at the top end (in 2016 values, when it was envisaged to begin).
If it applied only to properties each side of the corridor, based "on the idea that those who benefit most should pay the most", it would raise as little $350,000 to as much as $56 million.
The document recommends the value capture zone should be the full kilometre either side, or alternatively, 800 metres.
Among other options, it discusses "tax increment financing" (separating rates for properties within 800 metres of Northbourne so they are no longer tied to the wage price index, then capturing the growth above a baseline), joint development of land around the 14 stops; a special transport "utility" fee that bills properties on the basis of use, but this is as "a longer-term solution"; and the sale of "air rights" for pedestrian bridges and the like.
The document says the status quo brings in an extra $80 million to $270 million in rates, land tax and stamp duty over 50 years, simply because property values increase in the corridor. Adding property sales brings the figure to $522 million, with levies and other gains on top.
An ACT Labor spokesman said the document was prepared for Treasury and went no further.
"It has no formal status. Nothing about government policy can be inferred from it," he said.
"We have always recognised that there is a value uplift from the project. That's why we have determined that stage 2 of the project will go to Woden," he said.
Liberal deputy Alistair Coe said he government's refusal to release the report earlier showed it knew a "tram tax" was "toxic", but as light rail was rolled out the possibility of a levy was real.
