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Action for Land Taxation and Economic Reform

"To improve the understanding of and support for Land Value Taxation amongst members of the Liberal Democrats; to encourage all Liberal Democrats to promote and campaign for this policy as part of a more sustainable and just resource based economic system in which no one is enslaved by poverty; and to cooperate with other bodies, both inside and outside the Liberal Democrat Party, who share these objectives."

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  • Quotes in support of Land Tax
    Page: Oct 16, 2011

    Famous quotes in support of Land Tax


    The annual produce of the land and labour of the society, the real wealth and revenue of the great body of the people, might be the same after such a tax as before. Ground-rents and the ordinary rent of land are, therefore, perhaps, the species of revenue which can best bear to have a peculiar tax imposed upon them.

    Adam Smith - Wealth of Nations (1776), Book V, Chap. 2, Art.1


    Landlords grow rich in their sleep without working, risking or economizing. The increase in the value of land, arising as it does from the efforts of an entire community, should belong to the community and not to the individual who might hold title.

    John Stuart Mill - Political Economy (1848), Book V, Chap. 2, Sec. 5


    The tax upon land values is, therefore, the most just and equal of all taxes. It is the taking by the community, for the use of the community, of that value which is the creation of the community.

    Henry George - Progress and Poverty (1879)


    Roads are made, streets are made, railway services are improved, ...water is brought from reservoirs a hundred miles off in the mountains - and all the while the landlord sits still… To not one of these improvements does the land monopolist as a land monopolist contribute, and yet by every one of them the value of his land is sensibly enhanced.

    Winston Churchill - Speaking in 1909 for the People's budget


    Search out every problem, look into these questions thoroughly, and the more thoroughly you look into them you will find that the land is at the root of most of them. Housing, wages, food, health…

    David Lloyd George - Liberal Chancellor of the Exchequer, speaking at Aberdeen, 29th November 1912


    If a tax were imposed equal to the annual use value of real property ex its improvement, so that it would now have no net earnings and hence no capital value of its own -- progress would be orderly and its fruits would be equitably shared.

    John Kenneth Galbraith 1908 - 2006 - The Affluent Society (1958)


    So the question is, which are the least bad taxes? In my opinion the least bad tax is the property tax on the unimproved value of land, the Henry George argument of many, many years ago.

    Milton Friedman - Professor of Economics, University of Chicago, speaking in 1978


    Land value taxation is a "no-brainer"…It is both fair and efficient. It should be adopted.

    Martin Wolf - Chief economics commentator at the Financial Times


    The taxation of future growth in land values "to eliminate the fever of land speculation" that has "ended up destabilising the entire global economy"… is what Labour should have done and should commit to in future.

    Polly Toynbee - Columnist, writing in The Guardian, 13th July 2010


    The wealth produced over the centuries by the efforts of the community is reflected in land values and is therefore a proper target for taxation.

    Vince Cable - In foreword to 'The Case For A New People's Budget'


    "The underlying intellectual argument for seeking to tax economic rents retains its force."
    Mervyn King, in the standard textbook on the British tax system :Kay & King, 1990 p.179


  • alter-flyer-lvt-environment-wildlife A4 folded
    Document: Sep 14, 2011
    77.27 KiB drawing or desktop publishing document
  • ALTER flyer LVT Agric v2
    Document: Sep 14, 2011
    1.02 MiB text or word processing document
  • alter-flyer-lvt-environment-wildlife
    Document: Sep 14, 2011
    372 KiB text or word processing document
  • ALTER flyer LVT Agric v2 A4 folded
    Document: Sep 13, 2011
    83.43 KiB drawing or desktop publishing document

    Land value tax and agriculture A4 double sided folded flyer

  • ALTER to oppose extension of criminal law for squatting
    Article: Sep 8, 2011
    By David Cooper

    If squatters take over your home, it is a criminal offence. Other properties are protected only by civil law. The Conservative Justice Minister Crispin Blunt has launched a consultation which proposes that squatting in all properties should be criminalized. Surely this is in our best interests?

    ALTER says not, and has explained why in its answer to the consultation. This change is contrary to the interests of UK taxpayers. It would provide a valuable state funded benefit to wealthy tax avoiders. This influential lobby has the ear of Conservative Justice Minister Crispin Blunt. If he were concerned about ordinary property owners who actually pay tax in the UK, there are far cheaper ways of protecting them from squatters.

  • Submission to Ministry of Justice Consultation on Criminal Law for Squatting
    Document: Sep 8, 2011
    24.73 KiB drawing or desktop publishing document
  • Who owns our green and pleasant land?
    Article: Aug 7, 2011
    By David Cooper

    Superb article in today's Observer on how a new breed of plutocrats are buying up the 'great' estates, why they need to be taxed, and how LVT provides an answer…

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/aug/07/tim-adams-who-owns-britain

    This is an absolute must read. There's even an amusing sideswipe at Madonna! But the serious point is that there are a bunch of Russian Mafiosi types who are buying up vast swathes of the UK, who have probably never paid tax in Russia, and certainly are not being taxed in Britain. Laughably called property 'investors', they invest nothing in society yet benefit from the UK's stability and respect for the rule of law.

  • Motion Shifting Taxes to Promote Economic Growth
    Document: Jun 1, 2011
    6.29 KiB drawing or desktop publishing document
  • ALTER's plans for Autumn Party Conference
    Article: Jun 1, 2011

    ALTER's Executive Committee has agreed the wording for a Motion to be submitted for debate at the Party's main Conference this autumn in Birmingham. Entitled...

    Shifting Taxes to Promote Economic Growth

    ...it seeks to stregthen the Party's radical, progressive and green credentials and promote a distinct identity. ALTER Chair Dr Tony Vickers said after the meeting: "I would like to think that some Tories would support the Motion, because it accords with the sentiments of Chancellor George Osborne in the first Coalition Government Budget for a 'growth led economic recovery'. However we know, from discussions with Treasury officials recently, that the dominant force in the Conservative Party - which runs the Treasury - is still those descendents of landlordism: banks and property 'investors'. They will never support a tax on land values, because it would stop them creating unearned profits from economic rent."

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