Wednesday 1 October 2014

Unlikely Land Value Taxers: Boris Johnson

From The Evening Standard:

The proposed £3 billion extension to the Bakerloo Line can be built without cash handouts from the government, City Hall today as a public consultation on the route was launched. The Elephant & Castle-to-Lewisham link could be funded by local businesses and housebuilders who would benefit from the first major extension to the Tube in South London for a generation...

Isabel Dedring, Deputy Mayor for Transport, told the Standard:

"You want infrastructure to have a big impact in terms of building homes and the increase in land value will help you fund it. You want to find a route that is going to generate maximum revenue in order to cover the cost of building it.

“This is how we did the Northern Line extension where there isn’t grant funding per se, it is in the form of a guarantee..."

Mayor Boris Johnson described it as "one of my top priorities", adding “it would provide a vital new transport link for the people of south London and help to spur jobs, new homes and regeneration in this part of the capital."

3 comments:

Kj said...

He's should decide whether funding infrastructure through land taxes is brilliant or clobbering people who've worked hard while their houses grow in value of no fault of their own. But I have a hunch he won't, what fun is politics if you can't say multiple contradictory things at different occasions?

Lola said...

....shakes head in wonder and disbelief...

Mark Wadsworth said...

Kj, you can't fool all of the people all of the time. Unless you can.

L, BJ swings both ways, it's very strange.