Housing: "Not a Crisis of supply but a Crisis of Distribution"

George Monbiot quotes Professor Danny Dorling's in a Guardian article earlier this week. As Monbiot says, "the problem that lies behind our multiple housing crises is simple and obvious. It is, at root, a failure to tax". He advocates property taxes, and in particular an under occupancy tax.

The least intrusive, easiest to administer, and hardest-to-avoid property tax is Land Value Tax. It discourages under-occupancy since it taxes based on potential rental value. But it is a truly libertarian tax : provided the owner stumps up the money, he or she can choose whether the property is actually used to its full potential.