Hot on the heels of the tomfoolery in Australia* comes this 'exclusive' in The Daily Mirror:
Thousands of empty houses are to be bought by the Government in a bid to beat the economic crisis, it will be revealed today. Housing Minister Margaret Beckett will announce the plan to buy from developers who cannot sell their newly built homes.
Look. What is important is that people are living in those homes, whether as owner-occupiers or as tenants is neither here nor there.
As things stand, the tax system encourages builders to leave new homes vacant:
1. Construction and sale of new homes is zero-rated for VAT, but letting them out is VAT-exempt. This means that if a builder decides to rent out new housing 'until the market recovers' (snort, giggle), they lose all the input VAT (yes there is a way round this, that is not the point).
2. There are Council Tax exemptions for part-completed, new and vacant homes.
So let's fix this:
1. Make the construction of all new homes zero-rated for VAT, whether for sale or for letting (or even better, just scrap VAT).
2. Get rid of Council Tax discounts for part-completed, new and vacant homes. Or even better replace it with Land Value Tax, it's all sticks and carrots. The LVT stick is cheaper (as it raises money) and more effective that the 'government buys up new homes at above market value' carrot**.
* Bloody hell, that was quick!
** By definition, the homes must be up for sale at above market value, or else they'd have been sold by now.
Monday, 20 October 2008
Another day, another desperate throw of the dice (4)
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3 comments:
Meanwhile, as Margaret Beckett is going to pay our money to buy up houses the builders can't sell Alastair Darling's new wheeze is to pour our billions into building more houses.
A phrase involving "right hand", "left hand" & particularly "knoweth not what they do" comes to mind.
"knoweth not what they do"
They know exactly what they're doing which is squirting money at every problem or pseudo-problem they can. Unemployment in the public sector? No chance - we'll increase expenditure to cover wages/pensions. Prick the house price bubble? Not if we can help it - there are votes to be bought. Lower tax on petrol? Not if the BBC acts as a transmission belt for the Great Leader's instructions to the oil companies.
They're off the leash - I'd get out of sterling before exchange control is imposed.
Y'see you're doing it again. 'Sensible' won't work y'know, there's not enough votes in it. It's no good being sensible, we don't do sensible any more. It's not big and it's not clever. So just you remember that and let us get on with buying more votes. It's what we're good at. The really clever bit is that we buy them with somoeone else's money. We wouldn't use OUR money. Oh no. We're far to clever for that one. What? Put OUR money into buying all them 'ouses what is going to fall in value? Don't be bloody daft. Why should we when we can use yours?
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