A thought for St Andrews’ Day

The Campaign does not have a view on Scottish independence. One of the factors behind this movement must surely be the sense that wealth is being sucked out of Scotland into the centre of power and government, which means London. This is occurring through the tax system by government, and through the extraction of rental value by the financial system. The same problems are experienced in the peripheral locations of any country. Land value taxation addresses this because taxation is then directly related to geographical advantage, or lack of it.

There would be no point in Scotland, or Cornwall, or anywhere else, becoming independent if most if it is still owned by the same handful of people and companies and the financial flows continue unchanged. A little bit more of the flow will be towards Edinburgh rather than London, but it will make no difference in principle and most people in Scotland will gain nothing apart from a good feeling which will eventually turn to a sense of disappointment and betrayal.