Current affairs - Land Value Tax Campaign

Tax avoidance – the posturing continues

Written on 24 July 2012. Posted in Taxation.

People who pay cash in hand to tradesmen are “morally wrong”, damaging the economy and helping tax evaders, Treasury Minister David Gauke has warned. The report, in the Daily Telegraph, has produced over three thousand comments, nearly all of them hostile. Meanwhile, over at the Guardian, veteran warhorse Polly Toynbee has been sounding off about changes to the Council Tax benefit arrangements,...

Massive capital flows to tax havens

Written on 22 July 2012. Posted in Economics.

New research for the Tax Justice Network campaign group – sifting through data from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and private sector analysts, shows capital flooding out of countries across the world and disappearing into the cracks in the financial system. So what has actually gone offshore? Has this capital been sent out by the shipload?...

Job creationism alive and well in France

Written on 18 July 2012. Posted in Economics.

Job creationism is alive and flourishing in France, with proposals to reintroduce tax and social contributions on overtime work, thereby reversing a concession introduced under the previous Presidency. How stupid can you get? FT article

More regulation will not cure the banking disease

Written on 10 July 2012. Posted in Banking.

Banking scandals are all in the news at the moment, and the solution being touted is more regulation. It can only scratch the surface of the problem. There are deeper issues here, as we have said many times before. One is the proper and improper use of credit. We would assert that it should not be used for land purchase or for the purchase of the land component of real estate. Credit should be linked...

Why the Left is going nowhere

Written on 12 June 2012. Posted in Politics.

These thoughts are prompted by an article by George Monbiot in today’s Guardian.

Bank regulation is not enough

Written on 11 June 2012. Posted in Banking.

Calls for regulation of the banks are back on the agenda. It will not work. Regulation does not deal with the underlying problem: is the abuse of credit through its use for land purchase. The land is usually inside some kind of package which makes it difficult to understand that it is actually land: assets, homes, equities or other securities. The fundamental purpose of credit is to finance the...

Tax break for “granny flats”

Written on 2 June 2012. Posted in Taxation.

Ministers are expected to abolish council tax for “annexes” to encourage pensioners to move in with relations. The Government will also consider overhauling planning rules to make it easier to adapt garages, etc. The Communities Secretary, Eric Pickles, said it was “fundamentally unfair” for households to be charged twice by paying council tax on their homes as well as the...

Cornish Patsy tax row smoulders on

Written on 30 May 2012. Posted in Taxation.

I am enjoying this row. It shows how idiotic the tax system has become.

How the US sold Africa to multinationals

Written on 25 May 2012. Posted in Welfare.

The G8 scheme does nothing to address the problems that are at the core of hunger and malnutrition but will serve only to further poverty and inequality. Read more here.

Taxpayers’ Alliance report

Written on 24 May 2012. Posted in Taxation.

The Taxpayers’ Alliance describes itself as a grassroots organisation, which we somehow doubt. It is pushing the sort of views which we would expect from an outfit funded by a millionaire. We are looking at its recent 2020 Tax Commission report and will be producing a critique shortly. It builds its argument on a body of feeling that is widespread. Our first inclination is to agree with quite...

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