On 17/12/2012 02:27, News wrote:
Martin Edwards wrote:
On 01/09/2012 10:41, News wrote:

"Martin Edwards" wrote in message
...
On 31/08/2012 22:05, News wrote:

"Bruce" wrote in message
...

It's a lot easier to build on a green field site and usually
considerably cheaper. Add the lower construction costs to the
much lower cost of buying agricultural land on the outskirts of
towns and cities compared with land values in and near town
centres and there is a clear incentive to develop green field
sites which the housebuilders already own compared with brown
field sites which they don't. Experience shows that by far the
best way to facilitate
development of brown field sites is for the public sector to pay
for site clearance and remediation

The best way is to slap land valuation taxation on all land. The
landowners soon get it profitable. And no public expense to do so.

But will the tax on my garden be higher than my present council tax?

Land Valuation Taxation (LVT) is on the VALUE of the land, all the
land not just the garden. It does not tax the capital, the
building. In its purest form there will be no Income, Sales,
Inheritance tax or tax in interest. Calculations have been done that
show a man on £40K per ann as an owner/occupier will be approx, £6.5
to £7K per ann overall. As time goes on the revenue HMG needs will
be less as more enterprise is encouraged and economic parasites
eliminated. So, the £7K saved will increase. The Welfare state will
diminish as people gain control of their lives pushing HMG into the
background. Speculation on land is near eliminated - so no land
fueled boom and busts - as the 1929 & 2008 world-wide crashes were.

http://www.landvaluetax.org/what-is-lvt/

LVT

I live on a pension of about £10k. I am not complaining, but I would
like an answer to my question.

The tax, which is a misnomer as it is not a tax, is on "all" the land,
even the land under the house. It could be higher than council tax, but
you do not pay Income tax, VAT and other stealth taxes, so are you are
better off. Exemptions would apply in some cases. Or differed payment
until sale of house or death.

In what way are income tax and VAT stealth taxes? As far as I know
everybody knows about them. Thanks for the answer, though. I think I
am better off with my nugatory income tax.

--
Myth, after all, is what we believe naturally. History is what we must
painfully learn and struggle to remember. -Albert Goldman