Great Britain

The history of land-value taxation in GB covers three areas: taxing land to collect public revenue, & recouping the costs of community development, & of subsequent infrastructure development. Only the latter is practiced currently, but GB has acquired land for development &, by its rental, has gained public revenue. Georgist concepts have not been successful because of a lack of political strength to withstand the opposition from various professional groups & landowners. Value capture for betterment efforts have roots in ancient times. The Town & Country Planning Act of 1947 kept the ownership of all landed property development rights vested in the Crown. Postwar measures for a betterment tax were passed by Labour administrations. Later, Conservations rejected them, describing them as discouraging development, & encouraging land hoarding. The absence of a land-value tax, except for a capital gains tax, left landowners benefiting from an increase of land values, but local authorities did not have adequate revenues to fund the central government. A gain/obligation system was adopted to redress the public/private balance, but it has been confusing. There is growing support for the reintroduction of land-value taxation principles. 1 Appendix. L. A. Hoffman