House prices and Land Value Tax

[Tony Gosling]

Actually Mark, the Guardian leader writer has it right on this one.

IMO the latest house price bubble has been 
created by a combination of two main factors

Instability and uncertainty on the stock exchange 
which has come from war, war spending and short 
selling by the city. This means small investors 
taking their savings out of the stock exchange 
and putting them into buy-to-let property, much 
more property than they can themselves use.

Economic migration, which has increased demand 
for housing, particularly over the last 15 years

Record immigration sees UK population soar
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1567068/Record-immigration-sees-UK-population-soar.html

Land Value Taxation, or LVT, solves none of this. 
In fact, like the poll tax, it undermines one of 
the most fundamental of our human needs.

Any ethical taxation policy must recognise that 
tax should be levied on non essentials, the more 
luxurious goods and services, so as to protect 
the poor and the needy from the burden of taxation.

Sir Winston Churchill was one of the most 
powerful advocates of LVT in his generation but 
then again he was not a peace-time prime minister, nor a 'man of the people'.

Tony

At 11:59 14/08/2010, Mark Barrett wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>High house prices not caused by shortage
>
>
>
>There is no evidence that high 
><http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/houseprices>house 
>prices are caused by a shortage of homes 
>(<http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/06/planning-policy-editorial>Editorial, 
>6 August). With over a million properties 
>suitable for 
><http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/housing>housing 
>lying empty in England alone, it makes no sense 
>to talk of a shortage. There are two factors 
>causing inflated house prices: the failure to 
><http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/tax>tax land 
>values; and the ability of banks to create 
>unlimited credit, leading to leveraged 
>speculation in land. In 1970, the average house 
>price (more accurately, it is the land on which 
>it stands which increases in value) was £4,400. 
>Now it's about £180,000 – an average rise of 9% 
>a year. Speculation depends upon a constant 
>supply of ever more indebted buyers – a pyramid 
>scheme, whose final collapse is inevitable.
>
>A land tax would tax unearned gains from rising 
>values and so discourage speculation and 
>encourage idle resources to be used, cutting the 
>blight of boarded-up properties. It would 
>provide the government with the bulk of its 
>revenue, enabling taxes on income and property 
>taxes, such as council tax, to be phased out. A 
>land value tax is advocated by the 
><http://www.greenparty.org.uk/>Green party, the 
><http://www.party.coop/>Co-operative party and 
>even some members of the cabinet.
>
>Ken MacIntyre
>
>Leatherhead, Surrey
>
>
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