Lessons for Britain from American intervention in the mortgage market
Sir, I think Paul Keeling (Letters, September 8) is saying that by taxing the unearned windfall value of a house we would return to the community a value created by the community.
This will discourage improvement and new development, just as the rating system did before council tax. We need to separate the value of improvements from the rocketing value of land due to demand from an expanding population.
The only fair way to achieve this is to abolish all taxes on bricks and mortar and levy a tax on land value, thus legitimately returning to the community the value created by the community.
Michael Hawes
Newark, Nottinghamshire