Fair Tax

Colm McCarthy, Constantin Gurdgiev, Ronan Lyons, Judy Osborne, Dave Wetzel

The argument put forward in this book is that how property is taxed is can make a big difference both to government and the taxpayer. Most commonly property taxes are based on the full improved value of the property, but this means penalising those who improve their property. Basing property taxes on site value alone avoids this and encourages economic activity. It is an efficient tax both in terms of the low cost to the government in collecting it and to the taxpayer in paying it. It is fair and naturally progressive because the more valuable sites, paying higher taxes, will be occupied by the wealthier who will not be able to avoid it through tax havens etc.