Non-doms and other tax dodgers
A row about tax exiles has erupted again. The main point made is that people with huge fortunes round the world should pay UK tax if they are UK citizens. Why?
The democratic voice
Switzerland is a direct democracy. Anyone can draw up a petition and collect signatures. If there are enough, a referendum will held, giving people the opportunity to vote on the proposition. At times, this has led to results which some might consider odd, and not necessarily “progressive”.
British democracy leaves decisions to elected representatives and their permanent advisers in...
Community Infrastructure Levy details announced
So-called Roof Tax is tax on floors
Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) is the official term for the so-called Roof Tax which will replace Section 106 agreements as a means of capturing some of the land value released from planning permissions.
One of the last inept acts of a wretched and dying government, the proposal has been put together following the collapse of the Planning Gain Supplement....
Whither the Euro?
Where is the Euro going? The coins and notes are nicely designed and it is convenient not to have to keep bags of different currencies when travelling abroad. That is of course trivial; the real benefit of the Euro is that trade within the Eurozone takes place without the burden of the cost of currency exchange and the associated risk of changes in exchange rates. Neverthless, we have always been...
Has Quantitative Easing worked?
“No-one will ever know, but the Bank of England remains impotent when it comes to controlling demand in the economy.” This is the conclusion of FT commentator Chris Giles in a short video discussing the effects of Quantitative Easing, a policy which was ended at the meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee in February 2010, a year after it was introduced. Should we surprised? In the...
It’s onerous being an Earl
The Earl of Cadogan, owner of 90 acres of land around Sloane London, has get himself into the papers by announcing that he would not renew a lease after he went into a restaurant and disliked the food.
The Earl, 72, said after dining there in May 2008: “I didn’t like the food and the prices are far too high. I can tell you that we won’t be renewing their lease when it expires in...
Britain should be a workshop, not a casino
An article by Stephen Bayley in the Times today has nothing to do with LVT. We commend it nevertheless because there is a connection with LVT. The author argues that making real products is far superior to having a lust for quick returns. It recognises the crucial link between effort and reward. The reform we advocate would indeed help to support a culture in which effort was fully rewarded and...
What Irish tax commission said about LVT
The Republic of Ireland Commission on Taxation Report 2009, which runs to over 500 pages, has this little bit about LVT, buried in the discussion on property taxation in general. In doing so, they have has walked away from the opportunity to give the country a competitive advantage – which it desperately needs in view of its location at the margins of Europe. Like the English Lyons Committee,...
The Future of the Land Registry
The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), which recruits its membership from the civil service and government agencies, has produced this report on the future of the Land Registry. Whilst we do not necessarily endorse everything it says, it is a useful contribution to public debate.
The Social Justice Argument for LVT
ALTER, the LibDem group campaigning for LVT, has a produced a new report on the social justice argument for LVT. We would like to be able to commend this but unfortunately we can not. The report’s argument is based on the fundamental error that land is wealth, and that land ownership is synonymous with wealth ownership. It most definitely is not, and this is no mere pedantic quibble. Confusion...