Latest news and questions
August 2026
Are “donations” corrupt?
The BBC reports that Andy Burnham received £345,000 of donations before becoming PM.
A Labour Party spokesperson said: "It's right that political campaigns are funded by the generous support of party donors, rather than via the public purse.”
No, it’s not right! It stinks!
Why can’t politicians understand that this is wrong, it is seen as corruption, it is the thinner end of Farage’s £5 million bung to support cryptocurrency? Why is it that Burnham is happy to accept funds from those promoting their own self interests or the interests of foreign countries?
We, “ordinary people” would far prefer for politicians to receive no donations or gifts of any sort. That way we can see they are not corrupt and not being influenced by those with deep pockets.
We can fund election campaigns based on the number of people belonging to a political party and we can ensure that membership of political parties costs the same for everyone - with no backdoor “donations”.
Slight confusion
We have had a few emails from people asking about how LVT would affect:
Private freeholders
Private leaseholders
Private tenants
Social tenants
The simple answer is that the nature of the occupation is not relevant to LVT because it is a tax on underlying Land Value, not on property or people.
In all cases LVT is paid by the person or legal entity registered as the freeholder by the Land Registry.
Tenants and leaseholders (“lessees”) will not pay the LVT – it will be paid by the landlord or lessor – assuming they are the registered freeholder.
No doubt landlords and lessors will try to put up rents or service charges to cover the cost of the LVT they will pay.
However, tenants and lessees are currently paying Council Tax so an increase in rent/charges up to that level would leave them no worse off.
There are various organisation and campaigns on behalf of tenants and lessees but this is a separate argument – nothing to do with LVT.
We urge people to join such organisations, write to their MP and perhaps join a political party (only politics can bring about change) if they want their voices heard as tenants or lessees.
Let’s imagine …
Let’s imagine you own a national newspaper and you decide to put some of your profits into land – say, £43 million for 4,700 acres in Dorset. Naturally you don’t want to sit on a tractor and work the land – you have a newspaper empire to run and an architect-designed neoclassical country house to build.in the Palladian and Georgian style.
Along comes an enthusiastic young farmer who says: “I’d like to work the land, can I have 1,000 acres?”
What is your reaction?
“Sure, I’ve got enough money, help yourself and let me know how you get on.”
“Well, it’s my land, I’m the landlord and I could let you have a two year agricultural business tenancy on 1,000 acres at £120 an acre per year.”
For 1,000 years landholders have always selected option 2 – it allows them to make money while others do the work. Of course, in the past, they didn’t pay for the land, they fought for it.
In fact, as a society, we own all the land through the crown. So, we are the landowners. We also control, how our land may be used – through the planning system.
Is there any reason why we shouldn’t also select option 2?
Land Value Tax is exactly that, a reasonable charge for the privilege of using our land – for whatever purpose: agriculture, industry, housing etc. The more valuable the land, the more LVT is due – just as now where more valuable high quality agricultural land commands a higher rent than less valuable poor quality land and land with planning permission for housing commands a very high price – a windfall for the landholder.
The Burnham effect
There has been a big increase in visitors to this site - probably because Andy Burnham has become Prime Minister - and possibly because he represents a “fresh start” for the Labour government – new ideas are on the table – at last!
Andy Burnham has expressed support for Land Value Tax and was, at one time, a member of The Labour Land Campaign. Similar LVT-supporting groups exist in the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties.
The dangers that await!
The country needs radical change – to restore our infrastructure, to rebuild our economy and our public services, to address gross inequality and to rebuild trust in government. Anyone attempting such change will come under immediate attack from those with wealth, from those who are “comfortable with the way things are” and from those who control the media.
In 2017 Labour got 41% of the national vote (55% in the North East) with a highly popular set of policies. Our election system resulted in Labour losing but it terrified the establishment and led to an all-out attack on the Labour leadership from inside the party, from the media and from foreign countries.. In 2024 Labour, under an unimaginative and risk-averse lawyer, got 33.7% of the national vote and a massive parliamentary majority. Starmer then reneged on all the popular policies and returned to the “Conservative Lite” of multi-millionaire Tony Blair.
No wonder the country is angry with Labour.
Andy Burnham and LVT
Andy supports Land Value Tax for the obvious reasons that it is simple, fair and impossible to avoid. We hope he hasn’t changed his mind under pressure from the media and from those with wealth. (Political donations make this doubly complex and should be banned totally - but that is a separate discussion.)
However …
There is a problem when LVT is not fully understood, when it is badly explained (leading to the false accusation that it is a “garden tax” when in fact Council Tax is a “home and garden tax”) and when it is seen as part of a “parcel of wealth taxes”. This adds unnecessary confusion and complexity - the sort of things that keep lawyers happy.
Yet more neoliberalism?
Unfortunately Andy has always been “New Labour” and will be trapped in the neoliberal way of thinking that has led to the mess we are in now. Created at the time of Thatcher and Reagan, and supported by Tony Blair and “New Labour”, neoliberalism has led to global financial crashes, to austerity, to a grossly unfair distribution of our national wealth and to falling living standards for the overwhelming majority of our population.
Neoliberalism will lead to the next financial crash.
New Labour still believes that the economy has to be run in the same way as a household. They believe that “tax pays for things” despite the evidence that this is not the way the economy operates in the real world.
We hope Andy’s experience in Manchester has shown him how wrong this is and how a sovereign government can turn an economy round with an accent on care rather than on corporate profit and without worrying about “the bond market”.
The latest rumour is that Andy is considering a 2% tax on wealth over £10 million. This will be a disaster and already has lawyers laughing all the way to the bank. Wealth taxes are populist, sound good but they don’t work. They are very easy to avoid. They bring in a fraction of what was hoped for. Every country that has tried them has abandoned them or scaled them back dramatically.
He may also be considering a “Proportional Property Tax” (PPT) which we cover elsewhere.
Latest questions
If payment is deferred what happens if the value of the property when sold does not cover the deferred LVT?
Deferred payment is like any other debt - if you take on a debt you must repay it. There have been cases when people go into negative equity when the housing market falls - the value of their home is less than the mortgage they have taken out. However, their debt to the Building Society remains and must be paid. Taking on a debt is a contract and must be entered into with eyes wide open.
Deferment only covers the difference between what was previously paid in Council Tax and what will now be due under LVT. Anyone applying for deferment will have to prove that they genuinely cannot afford the difference - in the same way that disabled people have to prove they are disabled before they can claim disability allowance.
The Valuation Office Agency will monitor the current market value of all properties where deferment is being claimed. They will notify the freeholder when the outstanding amount reaches 50% of the property value. The freeeholder can then decide what to do.
What order of priority will deferred LVT have compared to deferred care home fees?
If a property where LVT is being deferred is sold for any reason the order of priority of payment will be outstanding debts to HMRC followed by outstanding debts to mortgage lenders. The freeholder may choose what to do with the remainder – care homes fees are one of the choices.
Who pays the LVT is a property if jointly owned - and what happens of their relationship breaks down?
A mortgage has to be repaid by those named in the mortgage. LVT has to be paid by the freeholders named in the Land Registry entry.
If relationships fall apart the result will be exactly the same as with a mortgage - the parties remain mutually responsible for paying. The arrangements they make between themselves are of no concern to a mortgage lender or to HMRC. It has to be paid.
Why apply LVT to land held abroad as well as in the UK? Won’t this be a nightmare to police - and what about double taxation?
There are no rights without responsibilities. Citizens have rights but they also have responsibilities - including paying tax Those who retire to sunny Spain find they are paying UK tax on their income and UK pensions! Those who wish to avoid tax store their wealth in tax havens and invest in land outside the UK.
The largest land holder in Scotland pays LVT on that land - to Denmark because he is a Danish citizen and Denmark uses LVT.
It will be a criminal offence, subject to fine or imprisonment, to fail to reveal land held abroad.
No one will suffer double taxation. The arrangements to prevent double taxation have been in place since the League of Nations in 1928. The mechanism is simple. You (a UK legal entity: citizen, company, trust, whatever) declare the value of all land you hold outside the UK, you list (with proof) the property taxes you are paying locally and any balance is due to HMRC as LVT.
Double taxation prevention means you never pay twice.
Will the property market grind to a halt as everyone waits to see what happens?
The property market goes up and down all the time.
It did not grind to a halt when MIRAS was phased out in 2000. It did not grind to a halt in Germany when the state of Baden-Württemberg (11.5 million people: bigger than Belgium, three times the size of Wales!) introduced LVT in 2025. It did not grind to a halt when the latest incarnation of Stamp Duty was introduced in 2003.
LVT is not a new tax, it is a replacement tax. It could replace Council Tax, Stamp Duty and anything else - that is a political decision.
There are always cut-off dates when new legislation comes into force - though the proposal is to phase in LVT over 10 years while phasing out other taxes so the property market has plenty of time to adjust.
People will still want to buy and sell homes, landholders will still want to buy and sell land. The writer’s grandfather bought three farms in Herefordshire and Gloucestershire during the slump in agricultural land prices in the 1930s. That’s the way of the world.
How do I find out the value of land under my home?
When a developer buys land to build a housing estate the value is obvious – what he paid for it. Divide that between the houses built (in proportion to their sizes) and you have the market value of the land under each house.
When agricultural land is sold the value is obvious – and similar land in the same area will have roughly the same value.
We have an organisation that has been valuing land for over 100 years. It is called the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) and is now part of HMRC. At the moment they concentrate on the value of business premises for Business Rates and the banding of new houses for Council Tax. In the past they have been involved in valuing land, all land, in the country. That’s what they do and they know how to do it!
They ask a simple question: “what would someone pay for this land on the open market given where it is and what it may be used for?” For an existing building it becomes. “this stone cottage is in a lovely spot. Given where it is, what would someone pay for the land associated with it if the buildings weren’t there but they got planning permission to build a similar building today?”
All freeholders will be sent details of the VOA assessment at least six months before LVT is introduced
Can I appeal against my LVT assessment?
Of course!
The Valuation Tribunal website will show a nationwide list of registered Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) land surveyors.
Using the form on trhe Valuation Tribunal to obtain two valuations from RICS land surveyors.
If the higher of the two is less than your LVT assessment you can submit your appeal online.
The Valuation Tribunal may accept your valuation – in which case it will immediately change your LVT assessment.
The Valuation Tribunal may decide to investigate – in which case it will tell you so and provide you with a date when the investigation will be complete. It will then notify you of the outcome.
RICS has disciplinary procedures and a surveyor who fails to provide reports, or provides incorrect reports, will be struck off and, in the case of fraudulent reports, further action will be taken by HMRC against the freeholder and the RICS surveyor.
Experience elsewhere, in Germany for example, shows that there is a flurry of appeals to start with but within a year things settle down as people get used to the system. It ain’t rocket science!
