The rich wouldn’t continue to get richer if we overhauled regressive property taxes

Your article, “Rich getting richer while poor get poorer, official figures show – with ‘Brexit and benefits freeze to blame’” (26 February), does nothing to identify a fundamental cause, but until it is recognised, the solution will be elusive.

According to the Office for National Statistics, over half the net value of wealth in the UK is attributed to land values, and 70 per cent of UK land is owned by just 1 per cent of the population.

Land is fixed in supply. Anything which increases demand for land will therefore cause its price to rise, benefiting landowners at the expense of others.

Public investment in infrastructure, services and amenities, and grants or subsidies to agriculture, industry and individuals, and any easing of credit ultimately boosts the demand for land and therefore its price and rental value.

It seems that policies to benefit society and the economy always transfers wealth to landowners.

Where the taxpayers’ sow, landowners reap. The ultimate irony is that when the public sector buys land for housing, infrastructure and so on, it has to pay the landowners the higher price that it has helped to create.

The only effective solution is to recapture land values for the benefit of the nation as a whole, best achieved by taxing land values.

Land value taxation (LVT) has the added benefits of reducing land speculation, increasing the supply of land on the market for housing, and lowering land prices.

Moreover, LVT is cheap to administer and is difficult to avoid or evade. LVT should replace all other property taxes, which are deeply regressive and penalise small businesses. This will help address the inevitable growth in wealth inequality.

Peter Reilly, Labour Land Campaign
Southport

While the zeitgeist of the current era is one of panic and pessimism, it can be overdone. Rob Merrick points out that office for national statistics (ONS) has found that the share of the richest 1 per cent of the population of total household disposable income has declined from 9.6 per cent in 2008 to an average of 7.1 per cent between 2011 and 2018.

So at least in some modest respects the rich have not been getting richer.

Although I am getting accustomed to lachrymose evenings in the pub crying into my beer, I will not be weeping at that one.

Ivor Morgan
Lincoln

Some 673 complaints have been made to the Labour Party in 10 months alleging acts of antisemitism by its members. Also, claims have been made by Labour MPs who left the party of suffering antisemitism by party members. Luciana Berger became a cause celebre in Liverpool in the past few couple of years after the successful conviction of two men who targeted her with antisemitic abuse. This being the case, why haven’t the police been involved in her latest issue with antisemitism?

The accused Labour Party members have contact details. Antisemitism is a criminal offence. The police must be fully aware of the issue. Has anyone been interviewed? Has anyone been charged? What’s going on?

Francis Kenny
Liverpool

The news that President Trump is facing a scathing attack from his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, which could end up toppling him is unsurprising. The shocking news is that he has managed to survive so far. His chilling racism, his withering attack on media and journalists, his weak grasp of global affairs, his Russia collusion, his disdain for human rights and his intemperate mood make him unfit for presidency.

He dragged us closer to the brink of a nuclear war and a climate disaster by withdrawing the US from global conventions. In Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, people are languishing under the yoke of grinding poverty, unemployment, diseases and inflation. Time for the US to wear the mantle of global acumen and responsibility.

Munjed Farid Al Qutob
London

It struck me, reading Sean O’Grady’s complaint about those of us who voted to stay with Europe, that I have never once heard any Brexiteer expressing empathy for the rage, despair and disenfranchisement that we are experiencing.

However, there is endless coverage in the media of the plight of regions that voted Leave, with calls for patience, tolerance and understanding of why they took the decisions they did.

Why doesn’t it work both ways? Is it because everyone knows we aren’t going to go round smashing up the streets, abusing and threatening people whose views we object to, or who look and sound different?

Is this why we have to endlessly appease? Can we hear please from the left-behind communities in Scotland – to say nothing of Northern Ireland – for a change? I agree that we need urgently to build bridges where possible – but both sides need to be prepared to listen and respect, not just one.

Nicola Grove
Horningsham

OK, Sean – I’ll calm down a bit, but I do think an opportunity to get an extension to Article 50 is good news, and I am gearing up for a wild party with plenty of tribal dancing – Anglo-Saxon-themed, I think. No road. David Cameron burnt in effigy, though.

Chris Bonfield
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