The Future Now

Coalition government and the prospects for LVT

If the claims of David Cameron and Nick Clegg are to be taken at face value, here in the UK we now live under a radical transforming government unprecedented in its progressive ambition. 

Of course, there is nothing in the coalition agreement to justify the hyperbole, but there may be a glimmer of  hope. For the first time since long before the last coalition was dissolved in 1945, the cabinet now boasts three members who are on record as supporting the principle of land value taxation (LVT), a radical and potentially transforming policy if ever there was one.

Read the full article ...

Phillipe Legrain: a very welcome convert

Phillipe Legrain has followed up his recent pieces in the Financial Times and Prospect, in which he argues the case for taxing land values, with another in today's Guardian.

I have been a follower of Phillipe's work for some time.  He is an excellent economist, and like all the best practitioners of that discipline, always places his economic thinking in the larger context of the real world and the daily experience of ordinary people.

His recent arguments for the economic benefits of immigration, which bravely challenge the unthinking bombast of those who blame the influx of non-Britons for all the country's problems, have been quite inspiring.

And now, it seems, Mr Legrain has come to the conclusion that the taxation of land values has a role to play in preventing another disastrous housing boom, and helping us out of the mess created a financial crisis that was sparked by the previous one.

This is excellent news.  Land value Taxation needs all the supporters it can get.  When someone of Legrain's repute comes on board, we have cause for celebration. 

Just one word of caution though: In today's article he proposes that a tax on land values should be introduced now to 

"help curb property speculation, fund new social housing and reduce the budget deficit."

All of these are important aims.  But we should remember that the budget deficit is only a pressing problem because the financial markets determine that government borrowing should be kept within certain limits.  Britian's current budget deficit would be quite sustainable were it not for the fact that the financial markets are able to hold democratically-elected governments to ransom. 

Were the next government to follow Legrain's advice and attempt to plug the deficit with revenue from a tax on land values, you can be sure the markets would take immediate and devastating fright, and the UK would quickly find itself in a position not dissimilar to that of Greece.

This is why I continue to argue that while land value taxation is a crucial part of any economy which aspires to be just, its implementation has to be coordinated internationally so as to neutralise the anti-democratic power of the financial markets.  

Forward to the past

I have this new piece over at Comment is Free this morning.  Part of the series entitled, Who owns the progressive future, it suggests that rather than rehearse old arguments between left and right, we should instead look for inspiration to some as yet untried ideas of the past, with reference to the thought of Karl Polanyi and Henry George.

Economic justice by the book

I have a new piece over at Comment is Free this afternoon, this one inspired by John Stewart's excellent political novel, The President.

A new model of the economy

I have a new piece up at Comment is Free this afternoon.  It takes a look at possible long term solutions to the financial crisis through the ideas outlined in an excellent new book by Brian Hodgkinson.  As the Guardian summarises in its standfirst:

Left and right, economists have been suffering from a shortage of new ideas. But that may be about to change.

I think this book could make a major contribution to building a more just and equitable society.  I recommend it wholeheartedly, and am pleased to report that the publishers, Shepheard-Walwyn are making it available to readers of this blog at a considerable discount.

Click here to take advantage of this offer.

A fair deal on land reform?

I have a new piece over at Comment is Free, looking at the situation with land reform in South Africa.

The nice people at the Guardian cut the original version (it was a bit long).  For anyone interested, here it is.

The longer version makes mention of the fact that, unlike most countries, South Africa has been levying a partial tax on land values for many years; a practice that has now been outlawed.

Radical solutions

I have a new piece over at Comment is Free now, which you can read here.

It's a response to Aditya Chakrobortty's challenge to progressives to do better in their response to the current economics crisis.

The Great Tax Clawback Scam

Fred Harrison, whose recent book, Ricardo's Law, I reviewed on comment is free last year, has now made a short film in which he outlines the book's central message: that our failure to address poverty is a direct result of a tax system which favours the better off, and discriminates against the poorest; a tax system which taxes the wrong thing: people's labour, while leaving the unearned wealth that accrues to landowners largely untaxed.

He makes a persuasive argument, and it's a rather good film.  You can watch it in high definition via the producer's website, here, or on YouTube here:

Fred's book is available here, and other books on land value taxation are available through his (and my) publisher, Shepheard-Walwyn.

Beyond our failed democracy

I have an article in the current edition of Land and Liberty Magazine, the journal of the Henry George Foundation in which you might be interested.  Their online presence is not as up to date as it might be, but you can download a pdf of the latest issue.  If you do, and you like what you find, please make a donation here.

Most easily of all, you can read my article in full, here.

Small change in the USA

Fred Foldvary has an informative piece over at The Progress Report in which he rates the policies of US presidential candidates from both parties against the essential change criteria of the geolibertarian movement.  He's especially good on the wacky tax plans of Republican hopeful, Mike Huckabee. 

And why not check out  Fred's fledgling political party, Free Earth.  It's easy to dismiss such initiatives as marginal and therefore inconsequential, but as a concise programme for transformative social change, it's right on the button.

Bag a bargain today

Those nice people over at Amazon have discounted my book, so if you haven't read it and would like a copy, you can buy it here.

When it was published, The Possibility of Progress garnered one or two positive comments.:  Tony Benn thought it "a deeply moral and intellectual book".  James Robertson called it "important, impressive and readable".  Tony Vickers suggested that it might be "the book that Henry George would have written if he'd been alive today."

At the book launch Tony Benn, Clare Short and Susan Kramer all turned up to give their backing to the book, more information about which you can find here.

I'm currently working on another book which explores similar themes from different angles, but while that one is in production, The Possibility of Progress should keep you going.

If you're in the United States, you can order it through amazon.com by clicking here. (Sorry, no discount).

Of course, if you can afford it, and have an independent bookshop nearby, why not get them to order it in for you?  It'll cost you the full price (£14.95) but you'll be supporting a small business, rather than a corporate giant, and contributing to the cause of progress in a tiny way.

Happy reading!

Mark