Following the SLC request for submissions on Land Value Tax, our tax expert Mark Wadsworth has prepared a document outlining how MSPs can use devolved tax-varying powers today to boost the Scottish economy by over 9% without collecting any extra revenue.
Scotland’s Path to Prosperity
Scotland’s Path to Prosperity (link to pdf) is published today. Our detailed and fully costed document is a prescription for turning around the perpetual Scottish deficit that is currently the sole future offered to Scots by pundits.
The document not only includes detailed costings but also fully explains the method of assessment and collection of a locally collected levy on site rental values (which we prefer to call Annual Ground Rent, after Adam Smith) to replace a proportion of devolved Income Tax.
The positive outcomes of such a bold move by MSPs would be many. The stream of value generated in Scotland by the combined efforts of society is found in the rental value of all land. Today site owners pocket this wealth, despite wide recognition that they do not generate it.
Adam Smith described how collecting [Annual] Ground Rent (aka LVT) would mean that people would be as well off after its collection as before. Mark Wadsworth shows in figures how and why Adam Smith was right! The reason is that the AGR/LVT levy is immune to deadweight losses (devastating economic damage inflicted by taxes on wages and trade).
We now present that option before MSPs – and all Scots – in a clearly written and fully explained but brief report. Please read it, place it in the hands of your MSP and demand that this policy option be fully debated at Holyrood.
MSPs, it is the duty of government to collect as revenue the surplus produced by society that is the rent of land. Devolved powers allow you to immediately migrate to collecting about one third of that surplus. By collecting that revenue directly from economic rent instead of indirectly by existing taxes, you will undo about one third of the economic and social damage inflicted on Scots by Westminster taxes. Please look carefully at the option before you to turn Scotland around. Our economists and tax experts are keen to explain further and face to face. Please contact us at info@slrg.scot.