To be scared of Labours Land tax

[Dragongirl10]

Just read about this, Labour are proposing a Land Value Tax on any land owned, could cost thousands a year for anyone even with a small house, not just the rich....they have not publicised this at all.

People with modest homes could be forced to sell or go into debt, or be repossessed...

So they say "new options" but only give one? Yeah that doesn't sound as if they've already decided!

I am a bit worried about this land / wealth tax business, specifically because they haven't announced the details. If they had we would be able to know whether we can afford the suggestion. Our elderly neighbour owns half our drive even though it only goes to our house. We have been thinking of buying it so he has a bit more cash (he is in the classic old person situation of big house but no money, so asset rich but cash poor situation, has lived there all his life and is a good neighbour, so the advantage to us would be continuing to have a good neighbour). Now we will have to wait and see if we can afford to buy it once Labour's higher income taxes and land taxes hit. That said, I don't think that being the only party not planning a tax rise is a good reason to vote Conservative. If they win they will just burn the money we pay him on social care. Its a lose-lose election as far as I can see.

Oh go on then. Here it is:

A Labour government will give local government extra funding next year. We will initiate a review into reforming council tax and business
rates and consider new options such as a land value tax, to ensure
local government has sustainable funding for the long term.

They do state that they will do this, regardless of the lack of "how".

Again, LVT is not a bad thing .

I dont remember rates

Local Government needs funding somehow. Local service tax? Local income tax? Central funding?

It's got to come from somewhere. Is council tax fair? The poll tax wasn't.

"Labour believes in devolving power"

That's a recycled Cameron policy - pushing everything out to local level wherever possible.

Small central government is a main tenet of conservatism.

@Thegirlinthefireplace One of the reasons I will be voting Tory is because of this, there are others, but this is one of the reasons. I think it's absolutely bollocks that my grandparents will have to give up their home due to their "wooded" long garden. The trees are all TPOd so they can't be cut down. No one will ever be able to build on that land (plus it's like 8m wide at best.

They state they will do what? Review and consider?

If when they review and consider they realise that loads of elderly people or hard working families would be made bankrupt and homeless, do you really think they would go ahead?

@ItsAllGoingToBeFine It's not a bad thing for you. There are a lot of people who this is going to be a catastrophe for; people who are classed as low income earners, or pensioners.

How have the Tories said they are going to raise money to pay for things like the NHS and schools?

orlantina

Local Government needs funding somehow. Local service tax? Local income tax? Central funding?

Dunno, i just don't remember when we had rates...feels like council tax has been around for ages

Found it:
A Labour government will give local government extra funding next year. We will initiate a review into reforming council tax and business rates and consider new options such as a land value tax, to ensure local government has sustainable funding for the long term.

Does not seem so scary like that: "considering new options such as....*

But then look at how this bit of their manifesto got spun:

A Labour government will guarantee no rises in income tax for those earning below £80,000 a year, and no increases in personal National Insurance Contributions or the rate of VAT.

Under Labour’s plans, 95 per cent of taxpayers will be guaranteed no increase in their income tax contributions, and everyone will be protected from any increase in personal National Insurance contributions and VAT.

The Conservatives have made no guarantees on tax for anyone.
So they could be planning to raise tax for those earning over £80,00 AND those earning less.

i just don't remember when we had rates...feels like council tax has been around for ages

I remember the poll tax when it came in. And the riots. I was 19.

Because nobody is trying to price people out of their homes. Because we'd have poll tax type riots on our hands and because there's the possibility of discussion, that is all. It's an idea posited, and is currently being used to discredit and panic. There are a good dozen threads on this all over mumsnet, some of them by seemingly new users1

I remember seeing poll tax riots on the tv

I was probably a similar age

squishy - anyone earning over 80k is going to be hammered big time then. they are screwed. and i imagine people in some areas this is a lot of money, but not others.

How have the Tories said they are going to raise money to pay for things like the NHS and schools

I've got this.

We need a strong economy to create growth. Only with growth can we create new jobs and have the money to invest in our public services. The only way we get a strong economy is a good Brexit. But we are a party that believes in low taxes.

(I think that's the party line)

Nope i was older

Just obviously not very observant

How come the people who start these Tory-supporting threads never come back to them?

dreaming - but they might be hammered by the Conservatives too. Neither Labour nor the Conservatives have given many details on how much tax those earning over £80,000 would pay.

The Conservatives have been suspiciously quiet on tax.

one of the key issues is people getting older and needing care. i think its not unreasonable for rich older people to pay for that care - say out of the value of their homes. why should youngsters (who don't seem to have much cash) pay for this, just so old people can pass homes onto their kids?

Oooh well done orlantina

I could even hear her voice

Now do bojo

The Tories claim that they're putting new money into schools by using their favourite trick of double counting and ignoring inconvenient facts. The schools budget will have to go up by around £2.9 billion in the next four years simply because of the increase in the school population, so the Tories are claiming great virtue in allocating that increase without disclosing the fact that, taking inflation into account, it's actually a decrease.

The Conservatives have been suspiciously quiet on tax

They are going to increase it...probably by more than 1%

And across the board...so its "fair"