Urbanism
Environment
Design

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Nicholas Falk of the URBED Trust, and his latest letter in the Guardian, in response to George Monbiot's piece titled 'Don’t let the rich get even richer on the assets we all share.'

George Monbiot wants communities to “seize back control of the resources” like land (Don’t let the rich get even richer on the assets we all share, 27 September), but needs sharper tools. Britain could learn from Denmark, where property taxes are split between land and buildings and go to the government, before redistribution. Taxes are also split in parts of Pennsylvania, like Pittsburgh, thus encouraging the regeneration of historic areas. So why not enable communities to set a local infrastructure financing trust (Lift) to charge more valuable properties in growth areas for the costs of improving local infrastructure? There would be much more support for “sharing” in land value uplift than capturing it all if the funds were used for a common cause.

Nicholas Falk
Executive director, the Urbed Trust