I read with interest your editorial on land tax (27 May). While it may be high time for this, the problem is that property owners and businesses who stand to benefit from the uplift in property values as a result of infrastructure development exert sufficient power to ensure that there has been only limited take-up of any levy to capture rising land prices.
My brother, the late Julian Pratt, took the idea of land value taxation and extended its principles more generally to develop what he termed a “stewardship economy”. A stewardship economy is rooted in the principle that everyone is entitled to an equal share of wealth created by the natural world.
A steward of land or a natural resource has an exclusive right to use that part of the natural world, but also a responsibility to care for it and a duty to compensate all of us who do not have access to it by paying a stewardship fee. This compensation can be used to fund public services, and be redistributed through a universal basic income. Through this system, any rise in property value caused by local infrastructure development would be reflected in an uplift in the stewardship fee.
An example of extending the principle of land value taxation to the Earth’s natural resources is the auctioning of the radio frequency spectrum, whereby communications providers are granted exclusive use of portions of the radio spectrum in return for payment of a licence fee. This fee is then used by governments to benefit the whole population. The website stewardship-economy.org explains the principles.
Dr Richard Pratt
St Allen, Cornwall
• Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication.
