Land Tax is an excellent idea we can build on
To protect England’s green and pleasant land, we should ensure that it is used wisely. This is currently not the case. Seventy per cent of Britain’s land is owned by less than 1 per cent of the population. A tax on land use would ensure that wealth and land is more properly distributed. At present, becoming a landlord is an excellent way to make money. How much better if sound manufacturing ideas, rather than land and property, ownership were the key to success?
A land value tax would make major landowners reconsider their portfolios. Derelict sites in town centres should see more rapid redevelopment. Parks and Sites of Special Scientific Interest would receive rebates, but enormous subsidies to agriculture could be more precisely targeted towards working farmers, rather than subsidising the super-rich, as is the case at present.
An example of taxation on “territory” held in common – the auction of parts of the radio spectrum to mobile phone companies – raised £22 billion. How much more is land worth? Should not part of that vast wealth be used for the betterment of all our citizens?
Martin Coule
LLC member