…the blog and website of Andy Wightman
Simon Pia, writing in today’s Scotsman, provides a welcome reminder that property tax in Scotland is in a mess with politicians of most persuasions (he quite rightly excludes the Scottish Greens & their LVT proposals) have avoided this thorny issue
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The following was first published as a Guest Column in the West Highland Free Press on 3 August 2012. The subject matter is one of a large number of vital topics that should be addressed by the Scottish Government’s Land
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Today, the Scottish Government announced the establishment of a “Land Reform Review Group” that will oversee a “wide ranging review of land reform in Scotland”. If this happens it will be very worthwhile. However, the remit and membership of this
Continue readingProposals for the development of Craighouse Campus in Edinburgh were reported in the Scotsman today. The developers. Craighouse Partnership is proposing to build 116 houses on the site. A local campaign, Friends of Craighouse, has been opposing the proposals. I
Continue readingA dramatic fire has been raging all afternoon at the Gusset building at 120-130 Morrison Street, Glasgow. The property has lain derelict since it was bought for £4,200,000 by Straben Developments Limited of Belfast, Northern Ireland in September 2007. (title
Continue readingIn the rapidly expanding digital world, it is encouraging to welcome an outbreak of online participation among our elected representatives. Not only do many MPs and MSPs have blogs, twitter accounts and facebook pages but some of them are even
Continue readingThe Scottish Government today announced a further three projects that will be developed using the Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) model. This is a mechanism whereby future non-domestic rates (business rates) that arise as a consequence of the TIF financed development
Continue readingThe Liberal Democrats have just published an interesting policy discussion paper on land taxes available here. I am delighted to see this thinking emerging from one of the UK coalition partners in Government and hope that the Scottish party plays
Continue readingUPDATE 9 April 2011 Actually, the error I identify below (over-estimate of LVT revenue by £123 million) doesn’t look like an error on further examination. The land values in my original report were from January 2009 (the Valuation Office) and
Continue readingYesterday, the Scottish Government published its draft Long Leases Bill which is designed to convert any lease of over 175 years (with at least 100 years left to run) to full ownership. This follows a consultation earlier this year (responses
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