ABSTRACT

In the UK, there is a long history of using planning instruments to tax betterment and capture value that comes about as a result of changing the use of land. Methods and regulations to capture value continue to be debated in many countries, with much experimentation with new approaches. The question is, how much does the land value capture instrument contribute to land scarcity? It is important to comprehend some fundamental differences between the English planning system and those of other countries to fully understand how the instruments work. The history of land value capture in England has meant that there have been many attempts over the past 80 years to introduce methods of taxing betterment, with successive governments repealing old laws and introducing new ones. In England, successive governments have mostly avoided direct land taxes, leaving any uplift in value to be achieved by negotiation.