Industrial unrest continues. The railways have been disrupted for the best part of half a year. There is trouble in the NHS. I wonder how much of this is related to the fact that an increasing proportion of the work force is now close to, or already in, the higher rate income tax band? This applies particularly to the railways. At these pay levels, not much of any pay increase increase is reflected...

The Social Justice and Fairness Commission (“established by SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon MSP in September 2019. It comprises both SNP members and independent contributors and we have had the privilege of leading its work.”) has published its report (h/t JD from the Scottish Land Revenue Group, not to be confused with Annual Ground Rent – a fairer way for an independant Scotland,...

”After urging land reform I now know the brute power of our billionaire press”, writes George Monbiot in the Guardian today about press response to the Labour’s proposals, set out in ”Land for the many”, which was published last month. The heavy criticism was well-deserved; there is an incoherent mish-mash of suggestions which reveals a lack of understanding of the fundamental moral and...

Practical Politics is a monthly magazine written by David Mills discussing topical issues relating to the economy. The last edition, however, was published in April 2013. It is hoped to resume publication in the future but there are no immediate plans. Much of the current discussion on Land Value Taxation now takes place on social media such as Facebook, where we have our own active group, I support...

Practical Politics was a monthly magazine written by David Mills discussing topical issues relating to the economy. The last edition was published in April 2013. A comprehensive set of archive editions up to April 2013 is available to download in our downloads section. For further information please use the contact us form. Here follow a couple of excerpts from previous issues of Practical Poli...

The current problems with social democratic parties world-wide stems ultimately from an ideological failure. Insofar as contemporary socialism has any ideology at all, it is Marxist. There is a fundamental flaw with Marx which is these days not widely known and understood. He conflates land and capital. They are separate entities.

What if the EU had been constructed on Georgist principles, with the following conditions for membership?

The EU began as a noble concept. Unfortunately, it has consistently got the economics wrong, thereby sowing the seeds of its ultimate disintegration. The EU gave us VAT, CAP, a tariff wall and expensive food. It would be difficult to conceive of a worse combination, apart from capping them with a common currency. Bearing in mind that all taxes apart from LVT amplify the effects of locational disadvantage,...

The theory of economics from which we work is founded on a geographical model. We are particularly interested in margins, because that is where people are forced to make critical decisions, above all, whether or not to engage in economic activity. It is at the margin that existing tax systems and other economic burdens have most effect. Locations that could support economic activity in the absence...

In the aftermath of the referendum, it does no harm to take a step back from the present febrile mood. Conveniently, there was this piece asking “What are governments for? I came across this about forty years ago.