The idea of land value taxation did not begin with Henry George. Others have stumbled across the idea largely as a result of their own reflections. One such as Thomas Spence (1750 – 1814). We are pleased to present this essay on Spence by guest author Edward Rhodes, who is a graduate of the University of Sussex, and currently works as a Research Administrator at the University of Brighton.

The euphoria following the election of Barak Obama is understandable and seems to give fresh force to the idea that in the United States, anyone can “make it”. So powerful was this notion that in the impoverished Jewish communities of Eastern Europe in the early 1900s, the United States was called the “Guldene Medina”. But even then, it was history. Most immigrants from Eastern...

The Campaign holds to the concept of Land Value Taxation as proposed by Henry George in Progress and Poverty. This is not out of quasi-religious reverence for the words of a great prophet. It is simply that deviation from that concept will lead to failure. At one time, most LVT supporters were familiar with the underlying theory. This seems to be less the case now.

In the seventeenth century, London was the City of London. As the eighteenth century progressed, aristocratic land owners started to develop their land; the Earl of Bedford was first, with Covent Garden, then came the Earl of Southampton with Bloomsbury Square, and the Earl of St Albans with St James’s Square. The 1760s saw the development of the Bedford Estate in Bloomsbury and the Portman...

  Memorandum on the current situation in Zimbabwe Author:  David MillsJune 2000 Foreword The Land Value Taxation Campaign (“the Campaign”) was formed in 1987 as a non-party body advocating a national land rent charge to replace conventional taxes which weigh on wealth creation. A statement summarising the argument is set out in “What Is Land Value Taxation?” . The Campaign...

This article was originally printed in Monitor of “Public Service and Local Government” September 1983. It is a light-hearted approach to understanding site values. Author:  Henry Law Where do you think is the most lucrative busking pitch on the London Underground, and how much would you expect to take in an hour – say between three and four in the afternoon? It would be interesting...

Practical Politics Issue No. 26, March 1992, was a special Issue for the General Election held on 9th. April. It sought to summarise the case for the assessment and collection of land values for public revenue purposes, in replacement of existing taxation, the policy often known as `land value taxation’ or `site value taxation’, referred to here as LVT. Here the tone is more ‘political’...

Labour’s Flawed Land Acts 1947-1976  Author:  V. H. Blundell Contents Introduction The 1947 Town and Country Planning Act The Land Commission The Community Land Act The Development Land Tax Summary Published by the Economic and Social Science Research Association 177 Vauxhall Bridge Road London SW1V 1ER August 1993 Introduction Since 1945, many attempts have been made by both Labour and...