Your report ("Sturgeon drums up vision for future of Scotland", The Herald, November 27) states that the new First Minister has promised a "radical programme" of reform so that Scotland's land can be "an asset that will benefit the many, not the few".
A truly radical approach to Scotland's land would start from the premise that the value of land is a community-created value and as such should be the primary source of state revenue. Its greatest value by far lies not in the sporting estates on which Ms Sturgeon has so far focused attention. Rather, it is in our great cities and towns where most of us live and work and where we find the best infrastructure, social amenities, and employment opportunities.
We concentrate our demand for land where it best meets our needs. The pressure of demand against a fixed and immovable supply gives land its greatest value in the most desirable neighbourhoods and where work and enterprise are most productive. As understood by great economists such as Adam Smith and David Ricardo, the price of "god-given" land represents a pure surplus or monopoly income over its zero cost. When growth of incomes drives up demand, supply cannot increase to reduce the price. Land is unique in this respect and when its value is taxed there are no adverse supply-side effects.
The owners gain from exclusive holding of the land on which those buildings sit, or from rents. These rents are unearned incomes that should be our equal birthright. Governments could then relieve us of the burden of destructive taxes on earned incomes and release our energies to create a more dynamic economy and just society. It would also remove the (literally) underlying cause of the destructive cycles of speculative boom and bust in our real estate markets.
Professor Roger Sandilands
35 Banavie Road
Glasgow.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article