Interesting Links for 14-05-2012

[andrewducker]

• 100,000 LED lights float down the Sumida River
  (tags: viaMyBrotherHugh pretty lights )
• Why Hawkeye is awesome
  (tags: avengers comics Hawkeye )
• Why (most) politicians don’t get the internet
  (tags: technology politics internet )
• Why has the UK got so few women scientists?
  (tags: uk science women gender )
• The IFS backs a land value tax
  (tags: uk tax )
• 100-year-old photos of British India
  (tags: photographs india history )
• Civil Partnerships and Marriage: What's The Difference?
  (tags: lgbt law uk marriage )
• Thinking About God Improves Our Self-Control
  (tags: religion god self-control )
• Damon Lindelof talks about "Prometheus", rewrites, and how it changed from being a prequel to "Alien"
  (tags: RidleyScott DamonLindelof movies alien )
• DSM-5, what's in and what's out in the psychiatric profession's diagnostic manual
  (tags: diagnosis psychology )
• The Occupy movement now has a manifesto.
  (tags: politics occupy )
• Someone wants to know if there is a modern browser that runs on Windows 3.1.
  (tags: funny history windows )
• The $144,146,165 Button
  (tags: behaviour taxi technology )
• George Lucas Does Something Admirable
  Movies
  (tags: georgelucas )
• An awesome iPad engraving
  (tags: brains ipad )
• Edible Chocolate Brain from MRI Scan - 3D Printing FTW!
  (tags: brains food chocolate 3dprinting )
• RE: The Dark One, In Case It Should Arise from Its Horrible Abyss
  (tags: fiction short_story )
• The dangers of chiropractic treatments are under-reported
  (tags: chiropractic research )

Comments

Re: The IFS backs a land value tax

[naath.livejournal.com]

There are ill effects. Notably that if a person owns a large patch of land but has no income (or is spending all their income paying the mortgage on the land) then they are going to have trouble paying the tax. Depends I guess what level the tax is set at; I'm not going to cry about people being forced to sell half their 100acre country estate, but if it means people loosing their houses that'd suck.

Re: The IFS backs a land value tax

[skington.livejournal.com]

Assuming that taxes are set at a reasonable level, so for most people the tax is revenue-neutral, I'd argue that if someone, as a result, can't afford to live in their house, then that's a good thing - the tax has shown that they're living above their means, and they should really move somewhere cheaper and let someone whose revenues would better match the value of the land move in.

One thing you can do also is value the land, then announce that over (say) 5 years, council tax will be phased out and land tax phased in, on a pro-rata basis. That way, if you're currently paying £1000 per year on council tax, and it's going to go up to £2,500 in 5 years, you can work out whether you can still afford to stay there, or whether you should make plans to move out.

Re: The IFS backs a land value tax

[naath.livejournal.com]

"the tax has shown that they're living above their means"> the tax has shown nothing; it has simply asserted that they are doing so. If the tax is simply to be the same amount as council tax but with a shiny new coat of paint then I don't see the point of it at all; other than being a bothersome exercise in bureaucracy.