The principal of a Land Tax was perhaps most famously promoted by Henry George. In his best selling work ‘’Progress and Poverty’’ (1879), it has continued to be supported various organisations, including organisations from which the Labour Party was formed, but as never been adopted by any UK government. Certain governments around the world have introduced such a tax.

In 2011 Pendle CLP adopted the following motion:

At a time when the Tory-led coalition’s regressive fiscal policies and cuts in public services are doing long-term damage to our economic growth prospects by increasing the nation’s unemployment levels, Pendle CLP calls for a radical shift in taxation policy away from incomes and consumption to unearned incomes.

This change to be achieved by a greater proportion of taxes being taken from the largely untaxed ownership of land, 69% of which is owned by just 0.3% of the population.

A new business and fiscal model is needed for social democracy in Britain which significantly shifts the burden of taxation from earned to unearned incomes by a shift to taxes on property, inheritance and land.

The CLP takes the view that this could be principally achieved by the taxation of land values and considers it is timely for this to be examined in the context of determining Labour’s future tax policy.

One organisation that promotes a Land Value Tax is the Labour Land Campaign which also has a robust policy on land ownership. We have provided a hyperlink to their website for information purposes, their views are not necessarily shared by Pendle CLP or the national UK Labour Party.

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