Comment - Land Value Tax Campaign

It’s onerous being an Earl

Written on 25 January 2010. Posted in Economics.

The Earl of Cadogan, owner of 90 acres of land around Sloane London, has get himself into the papers by announcing that he would not renew a lease after he went into a restaurant and disliked the food. The Earl, 72, said after dining there in May 2008: “I didn’t like the food and the prices are far too high. I can tell you that we won’t be renewing their lease when it expires in...

Who will pay for Britain’s high speed lines?

Written on 15 January 2010. Posted in Public Transport.

The land values issue can crop up at almost any time in almost any context. An example that is coming to public attention concerns proposals for the construction of high speed railway lines in Britain. A government announcement is expected shortly. Does this herald a bright new future?

Britain should be a workshop, not a casino

Written on 14 January 2010. Posted in Economics.

An article by Stephen Bayley in the Times today has nothing to do with LVT. We commend it nevertheless because there is a connection with LVT. The author argues that making real products is far superior to having a lust for quick returns. It recognises the crucial link between effort and reward. The reform we advocate would indeed help to support a culture in which effort was fully rewarded and...

What Irish tax commission said about LVT

Written on 13 January 2010. Posted in Taxation.

The Republic of Ireland Commission on Taxation Report 2009, which runs to over 500 pages, has this little bit about LVT, buried in the discussion on property taxation in general. In doing so, they have has walked away from the opportunity to give the country a competitive advantage – which it desperately needs in view of its location at the margins of Europe. Like the English Lyons Committee,...

The Future of the Land Registry

Written on 11 January 2010. Posted in Politics.

The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), which recruits its membership from the civil service and government agencies, has produced this report on the future of the Land Registry. Whilst we do not necessarily endorse everything it says, it is a useful contribution to public debate.

The Social Justice Argument for LVT

Written on 4 January 2010. Posted in Politics.

ALTER, the LibDem group campaigning for LVT, has a produced a new report on the social justice argument for LVT. We would like to be able to commend this but unfortunately we can not. The report’s argument is based on the fundamental error that land is wealth, and that land ownership is synonymous with wealth ownership. It most definitely is not, and this is no mere pedantic quibble. Confusion...

Companies avoiding 50% rate with pay schemes

Written on 29 December 2009. Posted in Taxation.

“Britain’s leading companies are devising pay schemes that enable top executives to escape the new 50p rate of income tax for high earners that takes effect in April, the Guardian has learned. “Some of the biggest companies in the country are constructing complex pay schemes that risk infuriating government ministers, who are determined to crack down on tax avoidance – more...

Who benefits from the CAP

Written on 22 December 2009. Posted in Economics.

Who benefits from the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy? It is not farmers, but regular followers of this site will know the answer. Landowners.

Who gains from fair trade schemes?

Written on 18 December 2009. Posted in Economics.

An examination by Robin SmithFairtrade is popular with consumers who like to support ethical trading. The aim is that third world farmers should get a better deal. There is nothing wrong with that. But it does no harm to look at these things more objectively.

Were we the first to forecast the financial collapse?

Written on 17 December 2009. Posted in History.

Bullseye! One of our members drew my attention to an old issue of our publication Practical Politics in which the editor, David Mills, had said that of the next slump “the seeds are being sown now”, and giving his prediction that it would occur “probably about seven years hence”. As this was in July 2002, his forecast turned out to be a bullseye hit. Is there a prize for...

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