How might LVT be implemented?
Partly as a result of the discussions that have been taking place under the sponsorship of the Coalition for Economic Justice, of which the Campaign is a member, we have had further thoughts on how LVT might be introduced. The concern that has been expressed centres around the role of local taxation. Put simply, there is a lot of land value in some local authority areas and very little in others, and this is unrelated to the costs of providing the services. The highest rates of LVT would have to be levied in the poorest areas. It has long been recognised that there would be a need for an equalisation scheme to redistribute the revenue, a problem that applies to any tax; the same would be true, for example, of local income tax or local sales tax.
We put forward here for discussion a radical solution: capitation payments which the authorities would be free to spend as they wished – a kind of reverse poll tax. What are the objections? Is it undemocratic? Is it unjust? Please give us your views. Read our proposals here