Time may be right for land value tax discussion, says John McDonnell
Cuts to local government funding mean voters are more open to “radical solutions”, the shadow chancellor said.
A tax shake-up to boost over-stretched council coffers could be piloted under a Labour government, John McDonnell has suggested.
The shadow chancellor said cuts to local government funding meant voters were more open to “radical solutions” and there was now a window of opportunity for “rational” debate.
Labour said it would look at replacing council tax with a new land value tax in its general election manifesto.
But he suggested the squeeze on council finances meant the time may now be right to make the change.
“But, I think because of the issues that we are facing at the moment, particularly around the funding of local services, there may well be a window of opportunity to have a rational debate about this.
“And there may be an opportunity as well of piloting some aspects of this as well as you go into government.
“It’s a tough one. I think we are at a stage where the decline in terms of funding to local government and the consequential effect on local services, many of them are in crisis, means I think that people are now willing to consider more radical solutions than they have in the past.”