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One thing this article omits, and I believe cuts the heart of a larger issue, is that the UK doesn't have a property or land value tax. They have a council tax,
by seanalltogether 8y ago
One thing this article omits, and I believe cuts the heart of a larger issue, is that the UK doesn't have a property or land value tax. They have a council tax, which is applied to a household, but there is no tax on holding onto parcels of land indefinitely. As a result, there is no need to know who owns these lands.
The UK especially needs a land value tax as they have one of the highest population densities in europe.
- orf 8y agoLondon somewhat inflates that density. In reality the UK has buckets of free space and doesn't desperately need to develop it all into housing. That's not to say we don't have housing problems, but they are not rooted in "there isn't enough land".
- stordoff 8y agoI also don't think it quite gives the right impression to say "[t]ypically this land belongs to wealthy families, old institutions, the Church, or the Crown". I zoomed in on my house, and the three largest parcels of unregistered land nearby were a public park, a school (a Church school, but I don't think that's quite what people imagine when they hear 'land owned by the Church'), and one has a fire station on it.