Landvaluescape and U.K. Tax Reform

The author obtained a grant from Lincoln Institute to enable site values to be assessed for a study of land value taxation (LVT) in Oxfordshire, England.

This paper describes the political background and course of the study and technical aspects of valuations and their uses by the local authorities in preparing models of the impact of various possible tax reforms. It also describes the author’s uses of the ‘landvaluescape’ model for his academic work and the extent and nature of interest generated by the study outside Oxfordshire.

Conclusions are drawn concerning the problems faced by local government, the property and related professions and the land policy research community in England and the paper makes recommendations for further work. The main conclusion is that lack of political will and IT awareness among key decision-makers in government throughout the UK is the major barrier to property tax reform.