Comment - Land Value Tax Campaign

Bank regulation deferred

Written on 1 September 2011. Posted in Banking.

Anyone seriously concerned about the failures of the banking system should not lose sleep over the government’s warning to defer the introduction of new regulations until after the next election. It would not have done much good. The underlying problem with the banking system is its standard model of lending: the use of land titles as security for loans, for, amongst other things, land purchase....

LibDems propose property tax reforms

Written on 29 August 2011. Posted in Taxation.

The LibDems are proposing some form of property tax reform. To judge from reports in the newspapers, at this stage it is not clear what is being suggested, which indicates the confusion about the whole topic. More details will doubtless emerge at the autumn conference. It would be nice to think that they are at the very least going to argue that all taxes presently falling directly in property –...

Youth unemployment – Euro League of Shame

Written on 26 August 2011. Posted in Economics.

Unemployment amongst young people ie in the EU stands at 20.5%, a figure based on the statistics for the 15 to 24 age group in June. This average, however, conceals wide variations,

What is responsible bank lending?

Written on 25 August 2011. Posted in Banking.

I would suggest that responsible lending would be based on three rules. Interest is not charged. The implication is that it is not paid, either. Credit must not be given except for the purchase of man-made objects eg a ship, a building, artefacts and tools, and to enable production to continue eg to finance a producer in the time until the product has been sold. Credit should not be given for...

Mansion Tax raises its ugly head again

Written on 17 August 2011. Posted in Taxation.

Partly in the wake of the riots, Liberal Democrat leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, has insisted that the Liberal Democrats’ plans to cut taxes for low-paid workers must come before Tory plans for tax cuts for those at the top. George Osborne, the Chancellor, has suggested that the 50p tax rate is “economically inefficient” . Senior Tories want to cut the higher rate...

A riot of comments

Written on 12 August 2011. Posted in General.

The riots in British cities have been followed, predictably, by a riot of comments. The emergency parliamentary debate produced nothing of value, but then how could it have done? People have tended to pick an explanation that fits their point of view. There is almost bound to be some truth in what they say because the causes are so complex and have so many dimensions to them. Widening inequality...

High speed vanity projects unfit for an austere age

Written on 3 August 2011. Posted in Public Transport.

A critique of the HS2 project by John Kay in the FT. It is a good and concise analysis, but it is a pity that Kay did not mention that the external costs and benefits of infrastructure schemes eventually turn up in land values. We would suggest that there is a need to refine the technques to evaluate these and develop forecasting tools. In principle this should not be difficult using multi-factorial...

Name and shame the scroungers

Written on 2 August 2011. Posted in Economics.

This FT article is not what is seems. The scroungers in question are the overpaid executives in the boardrooms of British companies. According to the article, which refers to an another published last week called The Trickle-up Effect, “the chief executives of FTSE 100 companies saw their pay rise last year by a median 32 per cent. That compares with 2 per cent for most workers. This was not...

A Tax Policy With San Francisco Roots

Written on 31 July 2011. Posted in Taxation.

Something from the US

Hindhead tunnel – profit at both ends

Written on 28 July 2011. Posted in Public Transport.

If ever there was a perfect example of how improved infrastructure increases land value in the surrounding area it must be the Hindhead road tunnel on the A3 trunk road in Surrey. Transport Secretary Philip Hammond officially opened the tunnel yesterday. It will be the longest non-estuarial twin-bore tunnel in the UK, and has been built to tackle congestion and improve safety on this busy route...

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