There are of course three main ways a government can collect land rent. 1. Just own land and buildings and rent them out. That way there is no need to differentiate between rental value of buildings and of the location. We have that with Crown Estates and Housing Associations (which are QUANGOs and ultimately part of the government) who rent out at or close to market value and council housing, which...

From the BBC: Leader Sir Ed Davey put forward his “sovereign green wealth fund” proposal at his party’s spring conference. He said the government raised £9bn last month from auctions to build wind farms on the coasts of England and Wales. The “sovereign green wealth fund” is an irrelvance here. What triggers a tax and what the government does with the proceeds are two...

Anytown District CouncilHigh Street Anytown AN1 1AAxx January 202x Mr & Mrs Smith1 Acacia AvenueAnytown AN2 4BQDear Mr & Mrs Smith Your Domestic Rates bill 202x-2y – property ref. XYZ1234 Following enactment of The Tax Simplification Act 202x, various taxes will be abolished and replaced with a single tax on land and buildings with effect 1 April 202x. The taxes which will be replaced...

People argue in favour of taxes on earnings and transactions on the basis that cash is changing hands, so that is a good time for the government to take an arbitrary slice. The corresponding argument against LVT (or Council Tax) is that no cash changes hands if somebody is just living in their own home and there is no cash flow for the government to take its share. That flies in the face of the...