Land doesn’t matter in an advanced economy
A response on Richard Murphy’s Tax Research web site…
LVT best for hard-working families
The Sunday Express last week came out with an article condemning what was referred to as a “land levy”.
‘A PLAN to scrap council tax in favour of a land levy was condemned last night as penalising hard-working middle-class families. The Land Value Tax was proposed by Compass, a Left-wing think tank close to Gordon Brown’s inner circle. It would raise even more than the £25.6billion...
Is LVT a threat to the landscape?
“Without special exemptions, land value taxation policy would cause loss of habitats such as ancient woodland heath etc in private ownership but not designated as sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs). It could also impair the protection of historic landscapes.”
Our pet theory is barking mad and will destroy employment
A few days ago I received an email, titled “Authoring”, from someone who had visited our site. It said,
“Don’t bother to reply unless you really are interested in a literate piece from a former partner at PriceWaterhouseCoopers explaining why your pet theory is completely and utterly barking mad and will destroy employment.”
We like a challenge. I replied that…
Land doesn’t matter any more – again
It is interesting how the arguments against LVT so often have to postulate impossible situations. Here is an example from the Guardian’s Comment is Free discussion group, as part of its present campaign against tax avoidance. The point put in favour of LVT was…
“If taxation is tied to the holding of land titles, then it can not be avoided. Everyone uses land. Nor can land be hidden...
LVT would put up the price of food
“A land tax as you propose would simply increase the cost of land and all it provides including food.”
Land value is the residual value after all other costs have been met. That is standard economic theory and readily observable – there are numerous test situations which have shown this eg shops do not charge more for their goods if they are paying high rents.
The person who...
“People and organisations that don’t ‘own’ land won’t pay any tax”
How about this objection to LVT from the Guardian’s Comment is Free?
“So people and organisations which don’t ‘own’ land but just rent or borrow it won’t pay any tax? Sounds like a top plan.”
Everyone uses land. Either they own it or they rent it. Whatever the case, they make a contribution to the LVT.
Land doesn’t matter in this age of technology
Land doesn’t matter any more, people often say. This is the sort of comment we often receive…Are you stuck in the 17th century or something? Land doesn’t mean an awful lot when food can be shipped in cheap from Africa and your entire business is an office.
Surely land doesn’t matter any more?
The argument goes like this…
Land does not determine production of non-organic goods. Since we discovered fossil fuels we have had a mineral energy source that can produce huge amounts of energy and does not have to be grown, like wood has to. With an unlimited supply of energy and materials (for the last two hundred years and maybe another 50) the West was able to industrialise, and land...
LVT would be unfair to savers who had invested in land
We sometimes come across the objection that LVT would be unfair to people who had chosen to put their savings into property. A question that came up recently was that,
“People like me who have chosen to put their savings into a property, and it is the main, if not only source of their pension, would seemingly see this pension whittled away by such a tax. It would unfairly advantage those on...