ALTER at Glasgow 2013 - Federal Conference report

Its official: firstly that Land Value Taxation (LVT) is a more popular policy among Lib Dem activists than Mansion Tax (MT); secondly that a "full scale review" of "how it might best be implemented" in the UK will be commissioned "early in the next parliament" if we are in Government again.

But it is MT, not LVT, which seems certain to feature in our Party's 2015 Manifesto.

So the priority for ALTER must be to work among Lib Dems at every level to enable them to see how important LVT is as a policy for sustainable economic recovery - not just 'a fairer society'. LVT can be effective even before legislation is passed to bring it in (by changing behaviour in anticipation) whereas the impact of MT on the economy would be trivial. If the Party is serious about its policy on LVT, it could be confusing for the electorate and distracting for the civil servants (after the election) to have legislation for MT passing through Parliament at the same time as we're planning for LVT.

Full report at http://alter.lib.dm/d2D6