Home > Land Value Tax
Land Value Taxation (LVT) is the policy of raising state revenues by charging each landholder a portion of the assessed site-only value of the unimproved land.The tax is often said to be justified for economic reasons because if it is implemented properly, it should not distort market mechanisms or otherwise damage the economy the way most taxes do. It is also said to be justified for reasons of fairness by asserting that the tax is equivalent to a fee for protection of land ownership, which is the primary activity of any state. It is a cheap (and therefore efficient) tax to administer because much less effort is required to track land ownership than to track income or sales transactions. Land Value Taxation was an important part of the platform of the British Liberal Party during the early part of the twentieth century and was advocated by Winston Churchill early in his career.
As well as these pragmatic arguments LVT can be justified from the philosophical premise that the natural world was originally the common property of all persons, and therefore the LVT is not really a tax, but simply the collection of rent on behalf of the proper owners (the community). A consequence of this argument is that land should be taxed to the maximal extent and all proceeds should be equally distributed to each citizen as a citizen's dividend. This implementation of the LVT amounts to a moderate form of land reform. The most influential advocate of this position was the political economist and activist Henry George. Many contemporary American advocacy groups trace their heritage back to his thoughts and writings.
LVT is charged in Estonia, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong, and many more countries have used it in the past, particularly Denmark and Japan. It is currently being introduced in Namibia, and there are campaigns for its introduction to South KoreaThe Republic of Korea (ROK; Korean: Daehan Minguk ( Hangul: ; Hanja: )), commonly known as South Korea is a country in East Asia, covering the southern half of the Korean peninsula. To the north, the Republic of Korea borders North Korea, with which it fo and ScotlandScotland or in Scottish Gaelic, Alba is a country and former independent kingdom of northwest Europe, and one of the four nations comprising the United Kingdom. Scotland occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. Scotland took part in a p. Several cities around the world also use LVT, including SydneyThis is about the city of Sydney in Australia. For other meanings, see Sydney (disambiguation), or Sidney. Sydney Opera House Sydney is the capital city of the Australian state of New South Wales and Australia's largest and oldest city, founded in 1788., CanberraFor other meanings see Canberra (disambiguation). Canberra (pronounced CAN-bruh) is Australia's capital city and largest inland city, though only the 7th largest overall in the country. It is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory and MexicaliMexicali is the capital of the Mexican state of Baja California. Situated along the state's northern border with the American state of California, Mexicali is a short distance from San Diego, California. Mexicali has an International Airport, served by Ae.
In 1990Events January January 3 Former leader of Panama Manuel Noriega surrenders to American forces. January 7 The Leaning Tower of Pisa is closed to the public due to safety concerns. January 9 Lt Gen Bazilio Olara Okello The man who led the coup aginst Dr Apo, several leading economists – including 4 Nobel PrizeThe Nobel Prizes (pronounced no-BELL or no-bell are awarded annually to people who have done outstanding research, invented groundbreaking techniques or equipment, or made outstanding contributions to society. It is generally regarded as the supreme comme winners – wrote to then PresidentThe President of the Soviet Union was the largely ceremonial Head of State of the USSR from 1990 to 1991. The office had not existed until 1990; previously the Head of State had been the Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR Chairman of Mikhail Gorbachev suggesting that Russia use Land Value Taxation in its transition towards a free market economy.
Some cities in the USA have recently introduced a two-rate property tax, which can been seen as a compromise between pure LVT and an ordinary asset-value property tax. This system was abandoned in Pittsburgh when an ineffective property assessment system led to a drastic increase in assessed land values during 2001 after years of underassessment.
There appears to be a correlation between high LVT and growing economic prosperity, as predicted by Georgist theory.
