George Osborne wants to introduce Mugabe-style property grabs into the UK. His latest wheeze is to force the sale of private property owned by housing associations to their tenants at a huge discount. The associations will be 'compensated' for this confiscation by the taxpayer. By offering this electoral bribe, he hopes to win votes in marginal constituencies.
A good article by Edward Lucas on the Economist blog, outlining the economic advantages but the considerable politicial difficulties of introducing Land Value Tax. One of the comments to the article makes the interesting point that China has substantial land taxes which no doubt increases the ability of the Chinese state to invest in infrastructure. Where better infrastructure leads to higher tax receipts, public investment flows. While western nations stagnate due to rent seeking behavior by land owners, the emerging economies in the East forge ahead.
ALTER is actively advocating Land Value Taxation in Scotland, and has provided a detailed submission to Scottish Local Tax Commission. It is authored by ALTER member John Howell and can be found here.
Answers to questions from ALTER from leadership contenders Tim Farron and Norman Lamb have been published on Libdem Voice.
Freeman's Wood is a plot of land on the edge of Lancaster. The land has been used by local people for decades, and they have regarded it as common land, but fencing was installed around it in 2012, resulting in public unrest and reports in the local press.
Ahead of the Housing debate at Bournemouth, ALTER's Dr Tony Vickers has written a paper that points out that the "Housing Crisis" is not really about how many new homes can be built but about how we make better use of the 98% of homes we already have. Drawing on research by the Intergenerational Foundation, he points the finger at massive under-occupation by pensioners of owner-occupied family homes, encouraged by government.