30 Dec 2015
News
Commission on Local Taxation in Scotland
ALTER MEMBER Jhonti Bird reports...
JB
14 Dec 2015
Socialism for the Rich -Subsidies for Scottish Shooting Estates
In a damning report produced for the League against Cruel Sports, Andy Wightman and & Dr Ruth Tingay shows how Scottish grouse shooting estates receive lavish govermnent subsidies. One estate, Glenogil, which is managed as a grouse shooting estate, receives agricultural subsidies from the Scottish Government. The presence of a sheep flock (used to 'mop up' ticks that would otherwise attack the grouse) is sufficient to qualify the estate as an agricultural holding. In 2010, the estate received £368,787 in public funds and in 2011, £346,757. Such taxpayer provided funds allows the building of electric fences and private roads that scar the countryside so that well heeled grouse shooters are saved the effort of trekking across the moors. Meanwhile, employees on grouse estates are paid less than the national minimum wage.
DC
14 Oct 2015
Hong Kong’s Economic Miracle Explained by Andrew Purves
NO DEBT, HIGH GROWTH, LOW TAX Hong Kong's Economic Miracle Explained by Andrew Purves Governments around the world are wrestling with the problems of enormous debts, low growth, high unemployment and a gap between the demands of public expenditure and what can be raised through taxation. This problem has been acute since the financial crisis, but has been a hallmark of western economies for decades.
24 Sep 2015
What's striking about Henry George proposals is how relevant they are in the 21st Century #LVT
. Policy proposals Tax on land and natural resource monopoly Free trade - opposed to tariffs, which were at the time both the major method of protectionist trade policy and an important source of federal revenue Supported the use of government issued paper currency such as the greenback. He opposed the use of metallic currency (such as gold or silver) and money issued by private commercial banks Citizen's dividend - proposed to create a pension and disability system, and that excess public revenues from land rents could be distributed to residents "as a right" instead of as charity to end or restrict the use of intellectual property to have government own and manage all right-of-way and "natural" monopolies, such as utility companies and mass transportation, to replace contract patronage with the direct employment of government workers, with civil-service protections, to implement campaign finance reform and political spending restrictions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_George#Policy_proposals
18 Sep 2015
The Hoarding of Housing - an Intergenerational Time-Bomb
Ahead of the Housing debate at Bournemouth, ALTER's Dr Tony Vickers has written a paper that points out that the "Housing Crisis" is not really about how many new homes can be built but about how we make better use of the 98% of homes we already have. Drawing on research by the Intergenerational Foundation, he points the finger at massive under-occupation by pensioners of owner-occupied family homes, encouraged by government.
DTV
11 Sep 2015