Current affairs - Land Value Tax Campaign

Where are the Liberal Democrats going?

Written on 13 September 2008. Posted in Politics.

The party conference season started with the Liberal Democrats at Bournemouth. Does the party matter anyway? Where is it going? What kind of a party should it aspire to be? European-style social democrats? This implies the adoption of a blend of socialist and market policies informed by – what? Keynesian economics? Green economics? Free market economics? Raw pragamatism? Making it up as they...

End to cheap flights will hit land values in holiday areas

Written on 13 September 2008. Posted in Economics.

Unstable and rising fuel prices are leading to upheavals in the airline industry, with collapses of large companies such as that which occurred on Thursday becoming more common. This will lead to cuts (or an end) to cheap flights to distant places like Bulgaria and to obscure destinations nearer home. Only a couple of years agon, people were being urged to buy holiday homes in Bulgaria, where prices...

Do the banks need more regulation?

Written on 12 September 2008. Posted in Banking.

Should the banks be subject to more regulation to prevent the problems of the past year? Financial Times journalists Martin Wolf and John Kay have opposing views. Listen to this debate between the two, chaired by the FT’s editor, Lionel Barber.

The politics of taxation

Written on 10 September 2008. Posted in Taxation.

Another paper produced for the IFS Mirrlees Review discusses the politics of taxation in a democratic society. The title of this paper is The Political Economy of Taxation. This contains useful information about interest groups and how they respond to proposals for change.

Ammunition for the LVT case

Written on 10 September 2008. Posted in Taxation.

Another paper which forms part of the IFS Mirrlees Review deals with administration and compliance, pointing out that with present transaction-based taxes, the costs fall primarily on business. There is a useful discussion there concerning the difference between who bears the burden of a tax and who is statutorily liable. It talks about distortion costs, efficiency costs, distribution costs, administration...

The dog that was not allowed to bark

Written on 10 September 2008. Posted in Taxation.

The Institute of Fiscal Studies is the main sponsor of the Mirrlees Review, chaired by Nobel Laureate Professor Sir James Mirrlees of the University of Cambridge, with the aim of designing what they call “a tax system for the 21st century”. This has generated much detailed work, exposing the detailed impact of the tax system. There is a mass of discussion about the effects, all of them...

Who will pay for Crossrail?

Written on 10 September 2008. Posted in Taxation.

Articles in the transport press point to the problems caused because there is no proper system of land value taxation in place. This is disussed in relation to Crossrail, which received Royal Assent in July. Who will pay for the £16 billion scheme?

The PAYE Illusion

Written on 9 September 2008. Posted in Taxation.

This article appeared in the Monitor section of “Public Service and Local Government” May 1983. “PAYE” is Pay As You Earn, the UK way of collecting personal income tax by making the businesses collect it at their expense from wages and salaries from their employees. Corporate accounting British Steel lost £358m in the year 1981/82. Or did it? Everything depends on how the...

Unintended consequence of Stamp Duty holiday

Written on 9 September 2008. Posted in Taxation.

Buy-to-let property investors, who have long been elbowing first-time buyers out of the housing market, have emerged as unexpected beneficiaries of the stamp duty holiday announced this week.In an attempt to ease affordability for first-time buyers and re-energise the housing market, the government waived the 1 per cent stamp duty for properties under £175,000 for the next year. Is there no limit...

Propping up the housing market

Written on 9 September 2008. Posted in Economics.

Nearly every day brings a fresh twist to the housing market crisis. Stock exchange response to the US government’s action on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has been positive but that was an immediate reaction. As the implications sink in, sentiment is likely to change. Reports suggest that the UK government is also about to do something to “kick start” the housing market. Meanwhile,...

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