Killer arguments against LVT
All the really silly arguments against LVT are debunked here. No doubt they will be trotted out at tomorrow’s second reading of Caroline Lucas’s Land Value Tax Bill.
Clearing up LVT misconceptions
The Private Member’s Bill promoted by Caroline Lucas calls for a feasibility study for the introduction of a Land Value Tax. This Bill is expected to have its second reading debate on 25 January 2013. I checked on We feel it important to clear up some misconceptions appearing in the press – such as ‘LVT is a stick to beat property firms …’ and it will ‘shift the burden...
Pity the poor widow under LVT
People express concern about the fate of poor widows under LVT but I am more concerned about the likes of Miss Havisham, who was unmarried but had lost her fortune through being defrauded by her husband-to-be. But there is this sad story too. A 96 year old widow is in the same two-up two-down with an outside toilet that she moved into in 1946 when she was 30 years old. She had married at the start...
A stupid exchange of views on “Georgism”
I have been in correspondence on another blog with a cowardly commentator who insists on calling himself Anonymous. His postings are as fine a collection of misconceptions and false conclusions about LVT as I have come across for a long time.
He quotes as an authority a Paul Birch, a member of the UKIP, who has written a “Critique of Georgism”. Birch has obviously not gone back to the...
I’ve bought that land with my money
I’ve bought that land with my money. Why should I pay tax on it?
The piece of land that someone buys would quickly lose its value if the state of civil order were to deteriorate, or people were to move away or if the community did not constantly sustain that value by ensuring that the physical and social infrastructure is kept in good order, all at the expense of the taxpayer. That is a valuable...
How LVT could be avoided – not
From a discussion group on the Guardian’s Comment is Free“A design office in the UK designs a widget. They have a three room office in Hull. It sells all over the world for £500 a go. It is made in China, where the vast factory is paid £10 per unit over costs. The UK company makes £300 profit per unit.
Explain to me how land value tax works on this, given you want to get rid of corporation...
LVT would benefit wealthy landowners
LVT would benefit wealthy landowners, according to Liberal Democrat Richard Dean, one of the commentators on a piece in Liberal Democrat Voice. Dean has acted as main protagonist for the “antis”, but his idea that LVT would help wealthy landowners suggests the workings of an original mind and comes as news to us. Can we expect a cheque in the post from Lord Marchmain at any moment? If...
LVT and bank lending
“Land value, if we assume land values fall from this tax what will happen to the debt lent against the property?”
The borrower will still have the revenue stream to pay off the debt, provided that the switch from present taxes to mostly-LVT is phased over a few years.
” ie when the landowner come to refinance he may find as the debt has previously been lent using the property...
LVT too much for farmers?
Why do opponents of LVT wheel out the argument that farmers could not afford to pay LVT? This is taken from the latest statistics from DEFRA.
“General cropping and cereal farms had large increases in rent in 2010 and the prices now stand at £249 and £176 per hectare respectively. This may be due to the improvement in the profitability of arable farming.” The main findings were
2010...
How does one pay LVT with no income?
This question arrived by email. “Every now and then I research this and still find no answer: How does somebody pay Land Value Tax if they have no income?”