While I thoroughly support the TPA overall, I do not agree with this. I dislike Council Tax (because it is regressive) but fully support the idea of Land Value Tax, it being accepted by free-market libertarians as the 'least bad tax' (to replace all other property-related taxes at the very least).
If there is a derelict house on your street it can attract anything from rats, fly tipping and vandalism all the way to squatters and drug dealers. It has been estimated that a vacant or derelict house can reduce the value of all the nearby houses by up to 18%! (Scroll about half way down the article). One of the many positive effects of LVT would be to discourage owners from letting properties fall into disrepair - it has to be paid on the site-only location value, irrespective of what is built on each site or the condition of the building.
Ergo, instead of calling for council tax reductions on such properties, I would rather see a punitive rate being charged, so that the owner is forced to renovate the property, or to sell it to somebody who will. This is a much better way of doing things than subsidising landlords who renovate.
Monday, 21 January 2008
Taxpayers' Alliance gets it horribly wrong ...
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3 comments:
You've identified a market niche for very small neutron bombs.
Such a convenient way of getting rid of all those tedious old people who just want to continue living in their lifetime homes, too.
Awkward, selfish, old buggers. Thank goodness we've found a way of tidying them away.
Anon, you shouldn't criticise a suggestion that you haven't bothered reading and understanding:
a) Land Value Tax would replace ALL existing property-related taxes, in particular Council Tax, Inheritance Tax, the TV licence fee and Stamp Duty Land tax.
b) Pensioners would be allowed to defer LVT payments and roll them up at low or no interest. So instead of the heirs having to sort out and pay Inheritance Tax and tax an indirect SDLT hit when they sell, there is just one bill for accrued LVT.
There are plenty of market solutions for this as well. I will be old one day, too, y'know...
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