Hello! I'm Anna
anna.ps
whoownsengland.org
1086: Domesday Book
1873: Return of Owners of Land
1911: Lloyd George's valuation maps
1925: Land Registration Act
What do we know about land ownership today?
About 87% of land in England & Wales is registered
You can find out who owns a particular property, for £3
No way to find out what a person owns
No official statistics
INSPIRE (2006): grudging, minimal geographic boundaries!
2016: Land Registry accidentally releases data on offshore ownership
2016: FOI requests
- One-third of all land in England & Wales (12m acres) owned by corporate bodies
- 6 million acres owned by limited companies
- 1.5 million by local authorities
- 4.5 million by miscellaneous others
- About 300k by overseas companies
2018: Company and overseas company ownership data released (sort of)
Increasing interest in land in policy terms
- Housing issue
- Subsidy system increasingly regarded as unfair & will have to change
- Recognition that land has been forgotten in economic terms
Land value tax: pros
- Encourages productive use of land
- Hard to hide or avoid
- Evidence it supports economic growth, reduces house price volatility
- Already used in Denmark, Estonia, Barbados and Australia - e.g. Denmark has 1% tax <£340k, 3% above
Land value tax: cons
- Politically difficult - a 'salient' tax. 'Garden tax' issue!
- We already have the highest 'property tax' in the developed world
- Practical issues around implementation
- Gradual introduction needed
- Forces highest-value use of land
Land value capture:
an idea whose time has come?
Land
By annaps
Land
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