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Nationwide Building Society figures

Written on . Posted in Economics.

According to the Nationwide Bulding Society’s statistics, The price of a typical house fell by 0.4% in April Housing measures in the budget are welcome, but are unlikely to turn things around Economic fundamentals will continue to dominate housing market prospects There seems to be a sub-text here which says, “Please can we have our bubble back?”

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The return of de-roofing

Written on . Posted in Taxation.

A article in today’s (29 June ) Sunday Telegraph reports that growing evidence of the disastrous side effects of the removal of empty property rates relief on commercial buildings has led members of the Government to reveal privately they are already considering reintroducing the relief. The change in law, which Government estimated would yield an extra £1.4bn from the commercial property...

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Peverse incentives

Written on . Posted in Taxation.

One of our members was complaining about the new on-line tax returns and the amount of tax he is now having to pay. For some reason they have changed the forms which was a bit of a nuisance as he was all geared up to filling in the old ones. No doubt a lot of people will be thrown into panic when they start to fill them in as the deadline approaches next year. But his real complaint is the extra...

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Two wrongs and no rights

Written on . Posted in History.

  Memorandum on the current situation in Zimbabwe Author:  David MillsJune 2000 Foreword The Land Value Taxation Campaign (“the Campaign”) was formed in 1987 as a non-party body advocating a national land rent charge to replace conventional taxes which weigh on wealth creation. A statement summarising the argument is set out in “What Is Land Value Taxation?” . The Campaign...

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Unemployment – Idle Men, Unfulfilled Wants

Written on . Posted in General.

  The relation between land and unemployment in a nutshell The economic process is in essence extremely simple. Man (Labour) fashions natural resources (Land) in to useful commodities (Wealth). Some Wealth is consumed directly, but some consists of items such as tools and machinery which are returned to the productive process to help create further Wealth. This is called Capital. The three factors...

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Land Value Taxation and Local Government Finance

Written on . Posted in Taxation.

Central collection or local? Author:  David K. MillsDecember 2003 Background and Introduction     Proponents of collection of the National Land-Rent to fund the public revenue – a policy known in this country historically as land value taxation (“LVT”) – will not gainsay the proposition that, in theory, the rental value of all land throughout the world belongs to all of the...

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Sounds From The Deep

Written on . Posted in History.

This article was originally printed in Monitor of “Public Service and Local Government” September 1983. It is a light-hearted approach to understanding site values. Author:  Henry Law Where do you think is the most lucrative busking pitch on the London Underground, and how much would you expect to take in an hour – say between three and four in the afternoon? It would be interesting...

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Down to brass tax

Written on . Posted in General.

Latin is of course out of fashion, but it can often help us understand the origin of things. The Latin dictionary defines the verb, taxo, taxare, as to estimate, rate, appraise the value of anything. In modern English, this is still the meaning in the courts of law, where a taxing master is one who taxes costs by examining them and allowing or disallowing the various component items claimed. A wider...

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Whither house prices?

Written on . Posted in General.

I received a questionaire yesterday from a Brighton estate agent asking what I expected would happen to house prices in the next year. I do not have a crystal ball but

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