Related Items

INDEX

  1. Comparative Land Value Diagrams
  2. The Pittsburgh Experience – essay
  3. The New Zealand Experience – essay
  4. Work, Gift and Theft – essay

1. Comparative land value diagrams for local authority regions in England

The diagrams shown below are based on the data provided by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local government in its publication:

Land Value Estimates for Policy Appraisal 2019, Guidelines for Use

The MOHCLG is careful to point out that the data is only suitable for ‘policy appraisal’.  In the introductory page it provides the following disclaimer:

‘This document contains land value estimates for policy appraisal, with residential land value estimates by local authority and average industrial and agricultural values for England.  This includes an estimate of a ‘typical’ residential site in each of England’s local authorities, along with an average industrial and agricultural land value for England.  Values of individual sites are highly sensitive to plot-specific characteristics and the report does not present estimates of market value. As a result, the estimates are not suitable for use other than for policy appraisal.’

Allowing for this limitation, the data is nevertheless very useful in showing the variations in values within each local authority region, and the comparative values between regions.

Continue reading

2. The Pittsburgh Experience

LVT – FOUND AND LOST

Why was a successful LVT system abandoned?

  1. General background
  2. Inception, growth and decline
  3. Aftermath
  4. Conclusions and comment
  5. Appendix 1. Neoclassical economics
  6. Notes

1.  General background.

Before embarking on the story of LVT in Pittsburgh it is necessary to say a few words about the structure of taxes generally in the USA.  To an outsider the US tax system would appear quite complex and onerous. There are federal taxes and state taxes before getting to local taxes.

Continue reading

3. The New Zealand Experience

LVT – FOUND AND LOST

Why was a successful system of LVT abandoned?

  1. Background history.
  2. Events leading to abandonment.
  3. Other suggested reasons for abandonment
  4. Conclusions and Comment
  5. Appendices
  6. Notes

1.  Background history

New Zealand holds a rather special status in that it was notably the first country to introduce a system of LVT for raising revenue.1

Continue reading

4. Work, Gift and Theft

A discussion of ownership and property.

This essay was first written in 2005.  Edited versions were published in Resurgence magazine in March 2006, and Land and Liberty in Autumn, 2008.  Apart from some minor amendments, the version here is un-abridged.  On re-reading I believe the points made are still relevant; very little has changed; all the basic economic processes and structures are still in place.

Continue reading