Sep 4, 2026 · 53 min · 11 segments
**Land value tax has long been popular with economists. Unlike most taxes, it doesn’t discourage people from working, investing or building - and in theory it can raise money without distorting…
Stuart AdamGuestHelen MillerHost
Ben ZarankoGuest
He wrote that essentially all the time things happen, schools are built, factories are built, reservoirs are built, things are connected to, at the time I think he was talking about things being connected to electricity and lighting and so on, and all the while the landlord just sits there benefiting from it, having contributed nothing to this thing that's raising the value of their land and making them wealthier.
This is a tax we don't currently have in the UK, but one that has something of a cult following.
Economists have been writing about why land value taxes are efficient ways to raise revenues for literally hundreds of years.
Unusually, a land value tax has pockets of support across the political spectrum.
And in my experience, many of those who support the idea of a land value tax don't just quite like the idea, they love the idea.
Some go as far as to say that all revenue should be raised from a land value tax.
So today we're going to unpack what a land value tax is, when and why we might want one, and whether we have the ability to do it in practice.
And to help me dig into this topic, I'm delighted to be joined by my colleague, Stuart Adam, who is our in-house and highly prized expert in all things tax design, and by Ben Zaranco, who is economics editor at The Observer, that has, as regular citizens will know, was until recently our colleague here at the IFS and has come back for another of our How to Fix Taxes special.
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He wrote that essentially all the time things happen, schools are built, factories are built, reservoirs are built, things are connected to, at the time I think he was talking about things being connected to electricity and lighting and so on, and all the while the landlord just sits there benefiting from it, having contributed nothing to this thing that's raising the value of their land and making them wealthier.
This is a tax we don't currently have in the UK, but one that has something of a cult following.
Economists have been writing about why land value taxes are efficient ways to raise revenues for literally hundreds of years.
Unusually, a land value tax has pockets of support across the political spectrum.
And in my experience, many of those who support the idea of a land value tax don't just quite like the idea, they love the idea.
Some go as far as to say that all revenue should be raised from a land value tax.
So today we're going to unpack what a land value tax is, when and why we might want one, and whether we have the ability to do it in practice.
And to help me dig into this topic, I'm delighted to be joined by my colleague, Stuart Adam, who is our in-house and highly prized expert in all things tax design, and by Ben Zaranco, who is economics editor at The Observer, that has, as regular citizens will know, was until recently our colleague here at the IFS and has come back for another of our How to Fix Taxes special.