Comment - Land Value Tax Campaign

From our sleuth

Written on 27 February 2010. Posted in General.

Walking along the silver sand beach while on holiday at a secret tropical island location, our sleuth spotted something bobbing in the sea that looked like a bottle. Indeed it was! Inside was a rolled up piece of paper that appeared to be the scribbling of none other than the CoE – Alasspoor Darling. A transcript is attached.

The democratic voice

Written on 25 February 2010. Posted in Politics.

Switzerland is a direct democracy. Anyone can draw up a petition and collect signatures. If there are enough, a referendum will held, giving people the opportunity to vote on the proposition. At times, this has led to results which some might consider odd, and not necessarily “progressive”. British democracy leaves decisions to elected representatives and their permanent advisers in...

Conservatives withdraw support for high speed railway

Written on 21 February 2010. Posted in Public Transport.

It was reported last week that the Conservatives have withdrawn their support for the proposed route of HST2. This is due to anxiety about of losing votes from NIMBYs in the Tory heartland, who are fearful of property blight. It is the worst of reasons since it does not go to the root of the problem and question the whole project. Nevertheless a valid point is being made, if not directly. There...

Community Infrastructure Levy details announced

Written on 20 February 2010. Posted in Taxation.

So-called Roof Tax is tax on floors Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) is the official term for the so-called Roof Tax which will replace Section 106 agreements as a means of capturing some of the land value released from planning permissions. One of the last inept acts of a wretched and dying government, the proposal has been put together following the collapse of the Planning Gain Supplement....

Winston Churchill said it all better then we can

Written on 14 February 2010. Posted in History.

Winston Churchill made this speech in 1909. We can’t put the case better ourselves. A century on, it remains clear, concise and to the point. We would commend it to David Cameron and his team. LAND MONOPOLY is not the only monopoly, but it is by far the greatest of monopolies — it is a perpetual monopoly, and it is the mother of all other forms of monopoly.

New web site worth visiting

Written on 13 February 2010. Posted in General.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED NEW WEB SITE The International Union for Land Value Taxation has a new web site with a collection of useful reference material. The Union was founded in 1926 “to promote permanent peace and prosperity for everyone by re-establishing mankind’s natural relationship with land.”

Whither the Euro?

Written on 12 February 2010. Posted in Economics.

Where is the Euro going? The coins and notes are nicely designed and it is convenient not to have to keep bags of different currencies when travelling abroad. That is of course trivial; the real benefit of the Euro is that trade within the Eurozone takes place without the burden of the cost of currency exchange and the associated risk of changes in exchange rates. Neverthless, we have always been...

Get off my land

Written on 7 February 2010. Posted in Home-Owner-Ism.

This old story was told me by Vic Blundell, who for many years ran the various Georgist groups in Vauxhall Bridge Road.A prosperous landowner is riding though his country estate. He comes across a notorious poacher with a brace of pheasants under his arm. Landowner: “You’re trespassing! Get off my land!” Poacher: “Your land? How did you get this land?”

Great Portland Estates in Crossrail row

Written on 6 February 2010. Posted in Public Transport.

Great Portland Estates is taking on Transport for London in a £25m row over the development of a Crossrail station. Toby Courtauld, chief executive of the West End property specialist, said yesterday that TfL has compulsorily purchased a London property from the company at a price that is “nowhere near our valuation”. Great Portland’s 18/19 Hanover Square in London was acquired...

Has Quantitative Easing worked?

Written on 6 February 2010. Posted in Banking.

“No-one will ever know, but the Bank of England remains impotent when it comes to controlling demand in the economy.” This is the conclusion of FT commentator Chris Giles in a short video discussing the effects of Quantitative Easing, a policy which was ended at the meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee in February 2010, a year after it was introduced. Should we surprised? In the...

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