Earnings are taxed too highly, Andy Burnham has hinted, and wealth too little. I don’t hold much hope for a cut in income tax, but I think we can pencil in higher wealth taxes, on property especially. This could possibly take the form of a new Proportional Property Tax such as that proposed by the ground Fairer Share, which would replace council tax and stamp duty with an annual levy of 0.48 per cent of a property’s value (that percentage being chosen because in Fairer Share’s calculations it would raise the same revenue as stamp duty and council tax currently does). But there is also an intriguing possibility that Burnham could resort to an idea he has backed in the past: a land value tax.
You don’t have to be on the progressive left to appreciate that Council Tax is unfair
In contrast to Council Tax, a land value tax would be levied not on buildings but on the land on which they stand. The land would be liable to be taxed even if no buildings stood on it. Owners would be charged, not on the basis of what exists, but on what could potentially exist.
A land value tax is not an especially left-wing idea; indeed, it has many supporters across the political spectrum, including the Institute for Economic Affairs (IEA) and the Centre for Economic Policy Research. It has been supported by MPs and former MPs from Nick Boles to Jeremy Corbyn. There aren’t many other taxation policies which can boast such wide support.
