Taxes better than interest rates
Polly Toynbee’s assertion that taxes are better than interest rates for holding down house prices is proved right by the report in your business pages the same day that raising interest rates has only succeeded in halting house-price inflation at the cost of halving overall economic growth. But the Capital Gains Tax on house sales she proposes would put people off selling, whereas an annual land value tax would, unlike the one-off Barker tax, continously track property price rises and provide a steady revenue stream while squeezing real estate kept as a cost-free long-term investment on to the market, so increasing economic activity.
DBC Reed
Labour Land Campaign