Current affairs - Land Value Tax Campaign

What are the Liberal Democrats proposing?

Written on 5 September 2011. Posted in Politics.

The LibDems’ proposal for some sort of land value tax has attracted a little bit of coverage recently, but it is not clear exactly what is proposed. The root of the trouble seems to be that Liberal Democrats (and politicians generally) and press reporters and commentators have only a shallow understanding of LVT. It is not helpful that not all LVT supporters seem to have real depth of understanding...

You can bet on the banks

Written on 3 September 2011. Posted in Banking.

There is increasing nervousness in government circles about proposed changes that will split up and ring-fence the retail arm of the banks from the tarnished investment or ‘casino’ operations that contributed to the current crash. However, we have obtained a leaked draft report containing proposals suggesting that far from separating the retail and investment arms, the government is...

Bank regulation deferred

Written on 1 September 2011. Posted in Banking.

Anyone seriously concerned about the failures of the banking system should not lose sleep over the government’s warning to defer the introduction of new regulations until after the next election. It would not have done much good. The underlying problem with the banking system is its standard model of lending: the use of land titles as security for loans, for, amongst other things, land purchase....

LibDems propose property tax reforms

Written on 29 August 2011. Posted in Taxation.

The LibDems are proposing some form of property tax reform. To judge from reports in the newspapers, at this stage it is not clear what is being suggested, which indicates the confusion about the whole topic. More details will doubtless emerge at the autumn conference. It would be nice to think that they are at the very least going to argue that all taxes presently falling directly in property –...

Youth unemployment – Euro League of Shame

Written on 26 August 2011. Posted in Economics.

Unemployment amongst young people ie in the EU stands at 20.5%, a figure based on the statistics for the 15 to 24 age group in June. This average, however, conceals wide variations,

What is responsible bank lending?

Written on 25 August 2011. Posted in Banking.

I would suggest that responsible lending would be based on three rules. Interest is not charged. The implication is that it is not paid, either. Credit must not be given except for the purchase of man-made objects eg a ship, a building, artefacts and tools, and to enable production to continue eg to finance a producer in the time until the product has been sold. Credit should not be given for...

Mansion Tax raises its ugly head again

Written on 17 August 2011. Posted in Taxation.

Partly in the wake of the riots, Liberal Democrat leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, has insisted that the Liberal Democrats’ plans to cut taxes for low-paid workers must come before Tory plans for tax cuts for those at the top. George Osborne, the Chancellor, has suggested that the 50p tax rate is “economically inefficient” . Senior Tories want to cut the higher rate...

Name and shame the scroungers

Written on 2 August 2011. Posted in Economics.

This FT article is not what is seems. The scroungers in question are the overpaid executives in the boardrooms of British companies. According to the article, which refers to an another published last week called The Trickle-up Effect, “the chief executives of FTSE 100 companies saw their pay rise last year by a median 32 per cent. That compares with 2 per cent for most workers. This was not...

A Tax Policy With San Francisco Roots

Written on 31 July 2011. Posted in Taxation.

Something from the US

Recession hits unskilled and widens north-south divide

Written on 26 July 2011. Posted in Economics.

The recession and its aftermath have widened England’s north-south divide and hit low-skilled workers hardest, says an official analysis of the labour market since unemployment hit a 30-year low in 2005. This is precisely what the theories we are working to would predict and explain. In the absence of LVT, those at the margin suffer them most when things go wrong.See full article in the FT

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