Inheritance tax

I don’t think it’s a question of believing or not . It has been brought up by JC /JM as a possible idea, therefore we are discussing it.

Dinahmo

' There have been some sensible posts on here so why is it that people are still believing the nonsense? Are thy not reading what's been posted? I'm not the only one to have come up with sense.'
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Intrigued by your post and why you believe at this stage you believe it is ' nonsense'.

Why do you think Labour commissioned the ' Land for the Many ' Report where the ' idea' eminates from?

Do you know the Report has been disgarded by Labour or are aware of something some of us don't know?

Listening to John McDonnell he appeared very interested and certainly gave no impression this was 'nonsense'.

It's a vote loser.
I speak as the voice of common sense!

Mombiot

George Monbiot
Dig deep enough into many of the problems this country faces, and you will soon hit land . Soaring inequality and exclusion;
the massive cost of renting or buying a decent home; repeated financial crises, sparked by housing asset bubbles; the collapse of wildlife and ecosystems; the lack of public amenities – the way land is owned and controlled underlies them all . Yet it scarcely features in political discussions .
The sense that even in discussing land we are trespassing is
so strong that this critical issue remains off the agenda. Yet we cannot solve our many dysfunctions without addressing it. This report aims to put land where it belongs: at the heart of political debate and discussion . It proposes radical but practical changes in the way land in the UK is used and governed. By these means, it seeks to make this a nation that works for everyone, with
a better distribution of wealth and power, greater financial stability, economic security and environmental quality, greater participation in the decisions that affect our lives, an enhanced ability to create our own homes and neighbourhoods and a stronger sense of community and belonging .

Recommendations

The following are proposals to the Labour Party, which will consider these as part of its policy development process in advance of the next general election.
Transparency
All information about land ownership, control, subsidies and planning should be published as open data. There should be free and open access to information on who owns land, including the identities of the beneficial owners.
There should be a fully public register of charges and options over land titles, and public databases of the prices paid for all property and of public subsidies paid
on land . Land should be registered with the Land Registry as a prerequisite for receiving subsidies.
Local Authority Asset Registers and sales should be published as open data. There should also be a full register of planning permissions, including developers’ commitments.
The Land Registry and Ordnance Survey should return to being executive agencies of government. A portion of the Land Registry’s £530 million in cash reserves should be used to help fund initiatives proposed in this paper.

It would be quite a good idea if before the ideas are dismissed out of hand, they are read and then given due consideration.

Land price stabilisation
We recommend that a Labour government should set an explicit goal to stabilise house prices, so that wages can catch up and the house-price-to-income ratio can gradually fall. As the problem of house price inflation is, at root, a problem
of residential land price inflation, this is also a goal to stabilise land prices.
The measures listed below would discourage land and housing from being treated as financial assets, encourage banks to redirect lending into productive sectors, and encourage a more efficient use of the existing housing stock (Chapter 3). Together, these policies would bring an end to house price inflation.
To prevent these long-overdue reforms from triggering an unduly sharp reversal in land values, we float an innovative and radical solution called the Common Ground Trust (Chapter 4).
One function of the Common Ground Trust is as a non-profit institution that helps prospective buyers purchase homes . At their request, it will buy the land underlying a house, making the upfront deposit for home ownership much more affordable .
In return, the buyers pay a land rent to the Trust . By bringing land into common ownership, land rents can be socialised rather than flowing to private landlords
and banks .
This function ensures that the Common Ground Trust supports demand from ordinary buyers in the housing market. Debt-fuelled and speculative demand can then be reined in without the risk of an uncontrolled or destabilising fall in values. As such, the Trust is an enabler for the broader package of reforms set out below .

gillybob and pogs

The Report Land for the Many is freely available to download should you have time to read it. Whitewavemark2 is quoting from it above and those extracts seem to make a lot of sense.

Certainly Monbiot's comments quoted above regarding land ownership are apposite. There are many people on here who complain about their DCs and GCs not being able to buy a house.

I mentioned above Paul Dacre and his 17,000 acre estate in Scotland. What I didn't mention was the Common Agricultural Policy subsidies that he's claimed since he bought the estate.

My initial thoughts on land price inflation.

I think one of the issues is seeing residential land in particular as a a profitable asset. The result of pushing prices higher and higher is to raise rents and mortgages to an unaffordable level for the majority of people.

Just as an example we have a young family as neighbours who are renting their house. They have 4 children (different marriages) and pay £1600.00 pm on their rent. Both parents are constantly exhausted juggling 3 jobs in the mother’s case and dad working all daylight hours.

How can they possible save any money at all? And if you take pension saving into the equation, life must become a nightmare.

When it comes to buying the average flat the price last year was £284000. And the average house price is listed as £490000. Listed for June 2019.

What chance do our grandchildren stand?

So it seems to me that getting to grips with land price inflation should ensure that residential property is seen as and entitlement for every single person in the U.K. and not a profitable asset as has been so disastrously the case.

Surely it is greed that has caused this situation and House prices are relative to the wages /income in any particular area. Here in my part of the NE house prices are low but there again so are the wages and unemployment is the highest in the country as there are no jobs. Very few of us have savings or assets to leave our children and so the circle continues.

Correction .....it is partly greed that has caused this.

Some of the Tax reform suggestions are interesting.

Propose to reduce the tax paid by households by replacing council tax with a progressive housing tax. In essence this means that households will pay less. Tenants will not be liable for this tax but the owners of the property. Owners letting property will have their ability to raise rent capped to the level of inflation. Buy to let mortgages will be highly regulated.

Valuation for tax purposes will be updated annually. Empty houses and second homes will attract the highest tax. There will be a surcharge for all residential empty property where the owner does not registered in the U.K. for tax purposes.

Inheritance tax will be abolished and replaced by a lifetime gift tax levied on the recipient.

gilly just a quick good luck today?

I like the sound of council tax reform . CT is one of my biggest gripes as we pay far more for our little 2 bedroom terrace in this poor area in Tyneside than someone with a mansion in Kensington ! How can that be fair ?

Thank you for wishing me good luck for today Whitewave I’m really dreading it .

Can you explain what you mean about levels of council tax, gillybob? I’m genuinely interested. We pay the lowest level of council tax on our small terrace and I can’t understand why anyone would pay less, wherever they live.

Business rates are to be replaced by a tax based on the local commercial land value, which means businesses in the north will pay much less than those in the south.

Stamp Duty land tax will be phased out for those buying their primary home.

English Land Commission is to undertake a review on tax exemptions given to land owners. The aim is to restrain fiscal privileges without harming farmers.

I’m having difficulty getting my head around this bit.

But

“In the interests of transparency and in order to curtail land speculation, tax avoidance or money laundering, we recommend an offshore company property tax. Payable by companies based or beneficially owned in secret jurisdictions.”

I can see why it is needed, but not sure until I read further how it will operate.

Maggiemaybe, I've heard that Londoners pay the lowest council tax. I don't know why.

Thanks for the information, Hetty. I’d never heard about that.

Oh sorry I missed your question maggiemaybe .

Council tax levels are set by the individual LA they are not the same countrywide. Usually the poorest economic areas pay the highest council tax as there is the most need for their services, with the most wealthy areas paying a lot less. The CT in the part of the NE where I live are some of the highest in the country for the cheapest properties. Hope that explains my gripe. Hetty is right that some of the most wealthy areas pay the very least and the poorest pay the most. hardly fair is it?

I think it varies from council to council. Councils (like Westminster) which have a lot of properties with very high rateable values charge less because so many households are in Band G. The further out from the centre you go, the higher the tax goes because fewer of the houses are in the higher bands..

In some areas of the country rates are high because most of the housing in the council area are in Bands A - D

propertydata.co.uk/council-tax

This chart shows exactly what I mean . Notice the areas of the lowest tax and those of the VERY highest (of which I am one) .

Hope that explains my gripe

It certainly does, gilly. Mine is up there with the areas of highest tax as well. And no, it most definitely is not fair!

Dinamho

gillybob and pogs

' The Report Land for the Many is freely available to download should you have time to read it. Whitewavemark2 is quoting from it above and those extracts seem to make a lot of sense.'
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I spoke of the ' Land for the Many' Report ' commissioned by Labour so I think you will forgive me for saying that was not the reason for my post or require pointing in it's direction.

I asked you why you posted :-

' There have been some sensible posts on here so why is it that people are still believing the nonsense? Are thy not reading what's been posted? I'm not the only one to have come up with sense.'
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It's a simple question what is ' the nonsense people are believing ' for you to chastise them?

Has anybody got an explanation for the off shore property tax and how that will function. Tbh I haven’t had time to read it yet so perhaps I ought to wait until I do probably tomorrow?