Reclaiming the Common Wealth, taking back what is ours.

Money Seigniorage; Land and Resource Taxes

Why do our houses cost so much? It's a strange tale of Housebuilders, Money and Land.Click on one of the links to find out how Site Value Rating (SVR), also known as Land Value Tax (LVT), and Reclaiming the issuing of our currency from commercial Banks will result in houses that are cheaper and better, and which everyone can afford.
Taxing unearned wealth will lead to homes that everyone can afford!
Why Building More Houses is NOT the Answer:(April 2017) A response to the Government's 'Fix the Broken Housing Market'

The 1st Step towards LVT: Convert Stamp Duty (Paper On ALTER website Nov 2016

Calculations: Convert SDLT to LVT ALTER paper refers to this

Osborne the Tory Chancellor imposes a Good Tax on the Banks -- a form of Seigniorage (Sep 2015) The Bank Levy, which began in 2010 is a very small tax on the balance sheets of banks. In other words it is a direct tax on the money they create 'out of thin air'. Hurrah! for Osborne! Positive Money reports

Ireland: debating the merits of LVT (Mar 2009) In an article in the Irish Times, Prof. Munley says now is not the time for LVT. In my published letter I put him right -- Now as the housing slump is deepening, it is just the right time for LVT! Read the Irish Times article and letter

Seigniorage: Our Money generates £1.5 bn tax revenue: How the Bank of England does it: (Oct 2007) Using our money in cash and notes provides abenefit to our Government. The way this dividend to the public purse is calculated is complex, the data is not easy to find, but I've managed to unravel it. Here's the Paper (in Prosperity Oct 2007) View the Powerpoint presentation at Bromsgrove 6th Oct 2007

A very clever form of Basic Citizens Income ( Nov 2006) Resource Taxes are the idea, but how to make them work? Charging for water, the most basic resource there is hits the poorest hardest. Here's a clever scheme from Flanders: charge for water for each litre used -- that encourages conservation, but give every man, woman and child a *free* allowance of about a quarter of typical consumption. All others pay a little bit more. Neat! Extra incentive not to waste water!
Flanders: a basic free water allowance for each resident (this article was printed in the Citizens Income Newsletter)


** No extra runways! No new airports, anywhere, not now, not in the future!**

The Economic case for Airport Slot auctions is given here

The case for SVR - An ALTER submission to the Barker Review (2003)Why do our homes cost so much? Could we ever have a plentiful supply of cheaper, better homes? Yes! is the answer, but it means changing the way land and property is taxed. It also brings into question how new money is created. Read some of these papers to find out more.
Finance and the Housing Market in the UK
RICS Conference paper 2002. Where do the huge amounts of money involved in the owner-occupied housing sector go to? Such a simple question, but no-one seems to have asked before. In this article, I explain , with the aid of an unusual graphic, where all the money in housing comes from, and which home-owners MAKE (not borrow and pay back) money from owning. Startling results!
The Housebuilding Boom in England in the 1930s
IAHS paper 1992. There was a time when houses were cheap - about £20,000 each in today's money, and were built in huge numbers. Despite the critics, they are still popular, still standing. They are of course the spec-built 1930s semis. Find out more....
An Expert System for Valuation of Residential Properties
Journal of Valuation.1984. Mass Appraisal eg for annual revaluations for Council Tax is EASY! Using a computer, regression and data to predict the sale price of a house. Includes a land-value contour mapping technique for site valuation.

Other sites which have much more information about Land Value Tax can be found in the Links on the left