An editorial in the Guardian today refers to the failure of major retail chains and the increasing number of empty shops on Britain’s high streets. The retailers referred to were all part of the froth economy and it was inevitable that they would fail when the going got hard. Some, perhaps most, had failed to keep up with changing tastes. However, the fiscal incentive is to keep vacant premises...

Perhaps the most constructive comment on the solution to the Greek debt crisis has come from Andrus Ansip, prime minister of Estonia. He is reported to have said, “If I may give my advice to Greece, it is that you have to cut public expenditure. You have to make structural reforms. And you have to create a really efficient taxation system.” Whatever can he mean by a really efficient...

Our relationship with the Tax Justice Network (TJN) is not what it ought to be. One might have thought that they would be foremost in leading a clamour for our promotion of land rent for public revenue. Instead, the approval is grudging. The most TJN will concede is to see it as “part of a comprehensive system of taxation”. But if LVT is part of a comprehensive tax system, which other...

Vince Cable has revived his idea for a mansion tax. It (the tax, not the mansion) is demolished here.

Tax avoidance has been in the news lately, with campaigns and demonstrations being run by organisations such as UK UNCUT. But what are the best places to avoid paying tax?

This comment turned up recently in response to the blog Tax Haven Explosion (below) on the website of Tax Justice Network. TJN is running a campaign against tax avoidance, in particular against tax havens. Now the obvious solution is to switch as much taxation as possible onto property charges, preferably on the rental value of land. That puts a stop on the whole thing at the outset. Any other approach...

We have now had a chance to study and think about the report produced by the Parliamentary Treasury Committee, following its inquiry at the beginning of the year made under the title “Principles of Tax Policy”. As we reported earlier, the case for land value taxation was presented by a large minority of the submissions and could hardly be ignored. The report stated that “the...

The Treasury Committee into the principles of taxation has now published its report. In accordance with our usual practice, we will not be commenting in detail until we have had an opportunity to study it carefully and consider its implications. However, at first glance it appears to offer a good overview of tax principles, which we broadly accept. There are, however, in relation to those principles,...

Last November the House of Commons Treasury Committee announced an Inquiry into “The Principles of tax policy”. There were 46 responses, of which seven were from bodies that exist to promote LVT: the Coalition for Economic Justice, ALTER, the School of Economic Science, the Labour Land Campaign, the Henry George Foundation, Transforming Communities and this Campaign. In addition, the...

The Campaign’s submission to the Treasury Committee into the principles of tax policy can be read here.