Just to round off the working week and because I haven't dipped my toe in the paddling pool of Home-Owner-Ist DoubleThink for a while.
From Yahoo! Finance:
Is the UK property market ready for a land value tax?
Yes of course it is, always has been.
Unless you are a moron:
Richard: So if a high-rise block of luxury flats with say 2000 flats in it is built on land valued at £200,000, then each flat owner would only have to pay £100 per year.. How does this help increase council revenue to provide the services that those residents would need - waste collection, health care, etc.
Seems like a good idea but when you think about it, doesn't it also mean that landowners in cities are going to build on previously green spaces? Will there be no gardens or parks in cities? Maybe I've missed something...
I don't think there is such a thing as a block of 2,000 outside the former Communist bloc, but hey. The KLN is ably batted back:
Henry Law: How could anyone build a high rise block of 2,000 luxury flats on a plot of land worth only £200,000. Say, £500k per flat, half of that is construction costs, the other half is land value. I make that half a billion for the plot.
Half a billion might be an understatement. A developer paid £959 million for the 12.8 acre Chelsea Barracks site in 2007. Henry is given some welcome covering fire:
Adrian: @Henry Law: Conversely, if the land is only worth £200k, it may be in an area that does not command £500k for a flat.
Value of land is tied to what it can produce. If that is a whole bunch of £500k flats then, as you rightly point out, the value of the land would be a lot higher than if it were reserved for agricultural use, for example.
Mark: You've missed a lot. Planning rules will still prevent building on gardens, parks etc. Any new building would still need to be in keeping with surrounding area so you can't suddenly build a 20 condo block of flats in the middle of a suburban street.
LTV could replace council tax and business rates (as a starting point) and would be at a lower rate because ALL property would be taxed (at different rates depending on type of area).
LVT cannot be offshored or avoided, no accountant can wriggle you out of paying it. When everybody pays their fair share (foreign investors/royal estates/land banking etc.) the cost for the average person will be less.
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