Land in the news
The land question keeps turning up in the news. Here it is.
Funding models for new railways, council tax reform, debates in the Commons, journalists making the case in the money pages. We collect some of the useful ones here. The Georgist Party of Britain does not endorse any of these articles unless directly specified.
Westminster
What would a land value tax actually do?
Dan Neidle models a land value tax on English homes and finds at least 63% of people better off in cash terms. Free to read, and honest about the design problems.
Tax Policy Associates · July 2026
Infrastructure
Delivering 1.5 million new homes: Land Value Capture
MPs conclude that the value planning permission and new transport links add to land is created by the community, and that Section 106 and the Community Infrastructure Levy recover far too little of it.
House of Commons committee · October 2025
Property tax
Axe stamp duty? How Andy Burnham could change property tax
With a Prime Minister who has backed a land levy for fifteen years, the question in the press has shifted from whether land should be taxed to how.
The Guardian · August 2026
Westminster and Whitehall
The land question is no longer a fringe interest. It is being argued over in committee rooms, in the Chamber and on the front of the money pages.
New UK Prime Minister supports land value tax. What's next?
Progress and Poverty (Land Economics) · July 2026
A careful record of everything Andy Burnham has actually said about land taxation since 2010, and what stands between a stated belief and a Finance Act.
Westminster Hall debate: Land Value Capture
Hansard, via Parallel Parliament · October 2025
MPs from several parties agree that the cost of land is a root cause of the housing crisis. Read what they then propose to do about it.
The options for council tax reform, from revaluation to land tax
The i Paper · July 2026
Council tax is still banded on 1991 prices and is forecast to raise £50.9bn in England this year. Around a hundred Labour MPs are pressing for reform.
A property wealth tax is now politically feasible
University of Oxford · August 2025
John Muellbauer proposes a land value tax on the most valuable and unoccupied land, with deferral for asset-rich pensioners. We use a deferral rule too.
Could the UK introduce a land value tax?
Armstrong Watson · August 2026
A sceptical accountant's read of the practical obstacles: separating land from buildings, revaluation, appeals, and regional winners and losers.
The nations
Wales and Scotland hold their own property tax powers, and both have been quietly doing the groundwork.
A land value tax for Wales? Claims and contexts
Welsh Government working paper · February 2026
A commissioned review of the international evidence, arguing an LVT for Wales would have real but localised effects rather than transformative ones.
Global best practice could help Scotland unlock fairer land taxation
Scottish Financial News · October 2025
The Scottish Land Commission compares Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia and South Africa. The lesson is that regular, transparent valuation is the hard part, and it is solvable.
Around the world
Other countries are not waiting for the argument to be settled. Some are already collecting.
Council hit with a tax bill of millions for failing to develop zoned land
Dublin Inquirer · September 2026
Ireland's Residential Zoned Land Tax charges 3% of site value on undeveloped land, and it does not spare the public sector. A live experiment in taxing idle land.
Detroit's land value tax plan: relief for homeowners, a bill for speculators
City of Detroit · 2023 onwards
One speculator held 22 acres across the city for $6,542 a year in tax while a homeowner paid $6,800. Detroit's answer was to tax the land instead.
How land value capture paid for London's Crossrail
Cities (University of Liverpool, open access) · July 2026
The Mayoral Community Infrastructure Levy has raised over £1bn from the land value a new railway created. Proof of the principle, at a fraction of the possible scale.
Seen something?
If you come across a piece on land, rent or tax reform that belongs on this page, send it to us and we will add it. We are happy to link to critics as well as to allies, so long as the argument is made in good faith.
news@georgistparty.uk
Press enquiries
Journalists writing about land value taxation are welcome to use our figures and calculator, and to ask us for comment. Our own statements and campaign announcements will appear here as they are issued.
press@georgistparty.uk