We are no fans of the mansion tax, which is as bad an implementation of a property tax as it is possible to conceive. However faced with the prospect, one old friend of mine has decided to realise a long-standing ambition and convert part of his West Wing into additional stables. It will all be done very tastefully of course but the alterations will take the value of his pile just below the threshold....

The FT reports that “A study of UK industry commissioned by David Cameron says Britain should appoint a “manufacturing tsar” to champion the sector and help deliver a prolonged economic revival. “A report compiled by Sir Anthony Bamford, chairman of JCB, the construction machine company, says Britain should implement a nine-point plan to strengthen the role of manufacturing...

All taxes must be evaluated according to their likely side effects. The well-known effect of the windows tax was bricked-up windows. But the reasoning behind this tax was the assumption that the number of windows in a property was an indication of the owner’s ability to pay.   Those of us who in favour of LVT would not seriously argue that the so-called “sin taxes” should be got...

Anyone who knows anything about the Campaign will know what changes we would like to see made to the tax system. However, even if the government gave the go-ahead tomorrow, it would take at least three years to get LVT up and running. So what would we like to see the Chancellor do at the forthcoming budget? The LibDems are said to be pressing for a wealth tax, but they have no business to be arguing...

BBC video of speech to Welsh Assembly

The strange case of Tax Justice Network Most advocates of Land Value Taxation have arrived at their conclusion because, amongst other things, they regard the present tax system as unjust. We would expect that an organisation going by the name “Tax Justice Network” (TJN) would be actively campaigning in the same direction as ourselves.

We had thought that the Liberal Democrats’ proposal for a “mansion tax” had died but seemingly it has not. Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat Business Secretary, is pushing for a mansion tax to be introduced on properties worth more than £2million in this year’s Budget. This would apparently be on top of the Council Tax. Critics claim that poor widows would be driven from...

The Campaign as such cannot have a view on the subject of Scottish independence. However, Scotland, like many parts of the rest of the UK, is far from the main centres of population and suffers as a consequence from geographical disadvantage and the associated higher production costs. Businesses have the disadvantage of higher transport and other energy costs. These disadvantages are reflected in...

Ignore, dear reader, all the news of doom and gloom, because the good times are just around the corner. All talk to the contrary is nothing more than a diversion, because the Chancellor has firm plans to turn the country’s economy round. Our sleuth, who continues to avoid detection as a cleaner in the Treasury building, has sent us a copy of what, written in his own hand, looks like the Chancellor’s...

A scathing report from MPs questioning whether HM Revenue & Customs and its top officials are acting legally in the way they handle tax disputes and “sweetheart” deals with major companies started a furious row last night. The British tax system is broken and not fit for purpose. It was never more than a system of organised theft and a structure of fines and penalties for successfully...