RSA Screens: The Taxing Question of Land

In this premiere of his new film, producer and director Yoni Higgsmith presents the case for a transformative tax solution which could help to address a range of economic and social concerns.

Complex tax systems allow for avoidance, evasion and expensive administration costs to both the public and private purse. At the recent G8 summit, the UK placed tax compliance as one of the most important issues facing the world today.

Our fiscal system is in need of serious and sincere reform and revision. The UK borrows a third of its annual budget and the revenue raised for the remaining two thirds is secured from taxes on our economy, all while expecting growth in this area.

Yoni Higgsmith will show how land value tax, or LVT, offers a best of both worlds approach, generating government revenue without taxing economic growth. In the backdrop of international financial crisis, many feel that LVT is an idea whose time has come.

We bring together an expert panel to explore whether a shift to a levy on land value can help to address housing, transport and other infrastructural need as well as wider issues of responsibility and justice.

Panel to include: Rt Hon Dr Vince Cable MP, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and President, Lib Dems ALTER (Action for Land Taxation and Economic Reform); Molly Scott Cato, Professor of Strategy and Sustainability at the University of Roehampton Business School  and speaker on finance for the Green Party, John Christensen director, Tax Justice Network and Yoni Higgsmith, producer and director, The Taxing Question of Land. 

Chaired by Matthew Taylor, RSA chief executive.

The film is now available to watch on YouTube and to find out more about the campaign, please visit the blog.