Monday, March 12, 2012
They own land, give them money
Tax payers to underwrite house prices
Shapps' latest wheeze storing up problems in years to come: "House builders set their prices. It is in their commercial interest to ration new homes to help maintain prices. In other capitalist markets if buyers find that prices have risen too high then said prices have to fall. By intervening the Government is propping up prices and putting off the inevitable adjustment that must come sooner or later."
Posted by stuartking @ 06:39 PM (1208 views)
3 thoughts on “They own land, give them money”
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mark wadsworth says:
SK, indeed, it would save a lot of faff and bureacracy if we just had a system like agricultural subsidies, where you get given money proportional to the value of land you own, all funded by the taxpayer.
stuartking says:
Just been watching Jeremy Paxman’s Empire programme, looking back at the British Empire. He was talking about Jamaica, how the white British owned the land and the black Caribbean’s worked it. We haven’t got the worldwide Imperialism of the past, but what we’ve got on a smaller scale here right now seems to be a mini version of it, with employees going to work to fund the lifestyle, mortgages and pensions of their employers – through high rents and higher house prices. Just as the Empire faded away, the current system, which is so inequitable for the majority, would they but know it, won’t last either. There will come a day when the ordinary working people of this country declare their independence. Perhaps it won’t happen in my lifetime – I’m in my 50s – but given the rise and fall of the Empire and the cyclical nature of power, it’s inevitable I think.
mark wadsworth says:
SK, that’s the clever bit about Home-Owner-Ism, it is self-perpetuating.
After a nasty shock in 1909, the Powers That Be have made sure that more than 60% of voters are “on the ladder” and are owner-occupiers and these befuddled masses are happy for the system to continue, they are happy to pay £20,000 a year in income taxes if they get £10,000 a year in “tax free” capital gains which make them feel wealthier. For some reason they prefer this to just paying net £10,000 LVT and having low and stable house prices which would lead to exactly the same result. It’s only the tiny minority at the top who actually are net beneficiaries.
We’ve been having these 18-year banking credit land price boom busts since the early 19th century (and possibly a lot longer than that) and people never wake up, they always say “It’s different this time” and they confuse land wealth with real wealth etc etc.