Lib Dems call for research on wealth taxes

At their Party Conference last month, Liberal Democrats overwhelmingly backed a motion aimed at ensuring that the Coalition Government's austerity measures protect the most vulnerable and do not allow the wealth and inequality gap to widen. A key part of the motion was a call for Lib Dem ministers to be allowed "the freedom and resources to commission research to fully assess the viability and practicalities of increasing taxation on wealth - including land values".

Immediately following the debate, one of those Lib Dem Ministers asked PLRG Hon Sec Dr Tony Vickers to prepare a briefing paper for his Coalition colleagues on how LVT has been shown elsewhere in the world to act as a stimulus to construction. Dr Vickers was a member of the Lib Dems Tax Commission in 2005-7, which produced the Party's tax policy paper.