Current affairs - Land Value Tax Campaign

Companies avoiding 50% rate with pay schemes

Written on 29 December 2009. Posted in Taxation.

“Britain’s leading companies are devising pay schemes that enable top executives to escape the new 50p rate of income tax for high earners that takes effect in April, the Guardian has learned. “Some of the biggest companies in the country are constructing complex pay schemes that risk infuriating government ministers, who are determined to crack down on tax avoidance – more...

Who benefits from the CAP

Written on 22 December 2009. Posted in Economics.

Who benefits from the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy? It is not farmers, but regular followers of this site will know the answer. Landowners.

Who gains from fair trade schemes?

Written on 18 December 2009. Posted in Economics.

An examination by Robin SmithFairtrade is popular with consumers who like to support ethical trading. The aim is that third world farmers should get a better deal. There is nothing wrong with that. But it does no harm to look at these things more objectively.

Where has prudence gone?

Written on 13 December 2009. Posted in Economics.

Where has PRUDENCE gone? What happened to the GOLDEN RULE? Wasn’t it a shame to sell half the nation’s GOLD RESERVES at the bottom of the market at an average price of $285 a troy ounce whereas now it is standing comfortably at well over $1,000? Above all, what happened to the boast to have ended the cycle of BOOM AND BUST? Article from the latest issue of Practical Politics continu...

Are financial services really useless?

Written on 10 December 2009. Posted in Banking.

This comment on the Guardian’s Comment is Free this morning set me thinking. Financial services are the lifeblood of any economy (and a million miles from being “socially useless” – sorry, that’s just ignorance) and for the UK to specialise in this area is just about the greatest stroke of genius going. Finance is labour intensive and offers high wages for all (even...

A plethora of populist micro measures

Written on 10 December 2009. Posted in Taxation.

“A plethora of populist micro measures” – a phrase used by FT journalist Philip Stephens in an article headed “Populism without purpose” – concisely sums up the Chancellor’s Pre-Budget statement. There is no coherent strategy for bringing down the government’s colossal deficit. But the British government has no coherent strategy for anything at all....

Economist backs property taxes to prevent boom and bust

Written on 2 December 2009. Posted in Taxation.

Adam Posen, the newest member of the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee, has said that the Government should consider imposing extra taxes on properties, suggesting that in future homeowners should have to pay an extra charge if prices rise too fast. He suggested that this may mean imposing capital gains taxes on first homes and raising stamp duty.

LVT for the doorstep canvasser

Written on 2 December 2009. Posted in Politics.

The LibDems continue to thrash around with their idea for a “Mansions Tax”. The original proposal was for it to start at a threshold of £1 million but that raised an uproar as it would have caught quite a lot of owners of ordinary houses in and around London, so the latest idea is for a threshold of £2 million, which will simply not raise enough money to be worth the trouble. The best...

Non-domicile tax dodge row erupts again

Written on 1 December 2009. Posted in Taxation.

The row over tax avoidance by “non-domiciles” has erupted again, this time over the man who must be the richest would-be Tory MP, Zac Goldsmith. As always, the subject opens up a rich vein of twaddlespeak. The Guardian editorial writes, “This is not, as the Conservatives say, a minor and private matter. It exposes an obvious hypocrisy: that while the party preaches austerity, in...

Compass loses direction

Written on 24 November 2009. Posted in Taxation.

“Compass” is a think tank that claims to be providing direction for the democratic left. A few months ago it published a report by Toby Lloyd, which was unequivocal in its support of land value taxation. Compass has swung. Its latest offering, “In Place of Cuts: Tax reform to build a fairer society”, puts forward what it describes as “a comprehensive analysis of the...

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