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At last – Tax Justice Movement grasps the LVT point

Written on . Posted in Tax Justice Network.

At last, a piece from TJN in support of LVT with no ifs and buts. We hope now that TJN will stop talking about LVT as part of a balanced package of taxes. Of course LVT cannot replace all existing taxes at a stroke and it will need a bedding-in period of several years whilst all the harmful and avoidable taxes are phased out. And there will probably always be a place for “sin taxes”,...

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Cast out of Eden

Written on . Posted in Religion.

Does the bible tell us that when Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden, they went to their local Jobcentre and signed on to get their Jobseeker’s Allowance? Of course not, because they had free access to the surface of the earth and its natural resources. Nobody owned it. Job creationism is not consonant with scripture.

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Humbug

Written on . Posted in Tax Justice Network.

There is a big hoo-ha in the papers today about government departments using consultants “employed” by service companies so as to avoid tax liabilities. It apparently skirts close to the borderline between avoidance and evasion. Humbug. No-one who has ever paid their plumber, builder or car mechanic cash-in-hand has any right to complain. That must mean nearly all of us. The customer...

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There are even bigger causes than LVT

Written on . Posted in General.

Yesterday, we blacked-out the LVTC web site in part of the world-wide action in support of freedom of the web, which is threatened by proposals for legislation in the USA. These restrictions are being put forward by the big commercial outfits in the mass entertainment and communications industry, anxious to maintain their profits. But knowledge, like land, is the property of the entire human race...

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Winners and losers from high speed rail

Written on . Posted in Public Transport.

An article in the Daily Telegraph explains that High Speed Rail (HS2) will create winners as well as losers among homeowners and homebuyers because, even though only 1.2 miles of the line will be above ground in the Chilterns, it will affect local house prices for good or ill. David Newnes, director of LSL Property Services, owners of estate agents Your Move and Reeds Rains said: “For many ...

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Fur coat and no knickers

Written on . Posted in Public Transport.

The government has now given the go-ahead to HS2 – £16 billion the high speed railway between London and Birmingham that will shave 20 minutes off the journey in 2026. For a further £16 billion, it is intended that it will reach Manchester in the 2030s. This is a shocking demonstration of the inability of Britain’s decision makers to join up their thinking. Having decided to invest this...

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Public services have to be paid for somehow

Written on . Posted in General.

I was having a conversation recently with a neighbour who runs a small business and employs a couple of staff. I pointed out that she, as employer, actually pays the taxes, because the employees would be happy to work for whatever their take-home pay happens to be. I explained that for every  £1 a worker receives in take-home pay, the employer has to pay over 80p to the government. And that has...

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Portas retailing report published

Written on . Posted in General.

Last May, with town centre vacancy rates doubling in the space of two years, the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister asked retailing expert Mary Portas to look into how we can create more prosperous and diverse high streets. Her report is published today by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, together with a supplementary document with the title Understanding High Street Performance,...

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