The Chancellor and his shadows
It is a sign of me getting old or are the Chancellor and his shadows all deeply unimpressive?
Big guns fire only blanks
Our new expert commentator, leading economist Charlotte-Anne Schreiber, was in the TV audience Monday evening to hear the debate between Alistair Darling, George Osborne and Vince Cable. She was not impressed. Here is her report for the Land Value Taxation Campaign.
Increment taxes – the practical objections
There are some who argue for taxes on what is called the unearned increment in land. Even some who wish to capture the whole site rent, have been heard to make appreciative murmurs when increment is mentioned. This is a mistake. It is surely not necessary to repeat here the ethical argument, and the argument in economic theory, for collecting all of the Rent of Land and therefore against taxing...
African Land – untaxed or undertaxed
There is an interesting piece from Tax Justice on the difficulties of taxing land in Africa. The problem is, it argues, “the concentration of land assets in the hands of political elites and small land-owning classes, much of which has been acquired through corrupt means”. Just like nearly everywhere else, then. It is a pity that influential campaigns such as Jubilee 2000 never mentioned...
A few simple things the Chancellor could have done
When government and the Treasury have no understanding of the role of land in the economy, not only do they impose policies that will have the opposite effect to that intended; they will also fail to see opportunities for simple interventions that would have wide-reaching benefits. We do not expect a British Chancellor to introduce anything like the tax reforms the Campaign is advocating, but with...
A budget to prevent tax avoidance and evasion
On the day of the 2010 Budget, we are pleased to introduce our new expert commentator, leading economist Charlotte-Anne Schreiber. She was delighted to be invited to the press box in the House of Commons to hear the budget speech. Although she found it confusing and contradictory, a promise right at the end of the 90-minute dissertation gave her hope that at long last a Chancellor had realised where...
Economic nonsense from the Chancellor
Three of the measures in the 2010 Budget today prove conclusively that neither the Chancellor nor, probably, those who advise him, have the foggiest idea what they are doing. He announced that
empty properties with a rateable value of less than £18,000 will be exempt from paying business rates in 2010/11.
business rates will be cut from October 2010 in a bid to help small businesses through the...
Charlotte-Anne Schreiber, our new economic analyst
We welcome to our production team leading economist Charlotte-Anne Schreiber. Charlotte-Anne studied at St Bart’s College, Oxford, graduating with a First in PPE, before moving to Princeton, where she took her Doctorate. She then obtained an MBA at Harvard and has worked for the World Bank, the World Trade Organisation, the European Development Bank, the United Nations and the EU Commission....
The Chancellor’s Prayer Meeting
Our team of newshounds stalk the corridors, comb the columns and earwig the airways to bring you the latest news, comment and criticism. It is a closely guarded secret that immediately before the Chancellor leaves 11 Downing Street for the traditional photo shoot with the red box, the House of Commons chaplain holds a short service in an upper room. Disguised as a window cleaner, our sleuth was...
Budget Special – exclusive revelations
Our team of newshounds stalk the corridors, comb the columns and earwig the airways to bring you the latest news, comment and criticism.
Our reporter was able to pose as an illegal immigrant and work as a cleaner at the Treasury with after-hours access to the private office of the Chancellor. In the wastepaper basket several screwed up piece of paper revealed a handwritten draft of a speech that...