Buried deep within the Scottish Government's consultation paper 'a fair local tax' is a call for comments on alternative forms of local taxation.  One long standing proposal is for Land Value Taxation which could encompass the domestic market but is more traditionally associated as a repalcement for non-domestic business rates.

The government is inviting comments on LVT and the SPF has a clear interest in making any strongly held views known to the powers that be - if any members have any views on LVT please contact David Melhuish . We must be wary of not picking up these consultations - although there was no outright support from the government for the abolition of long term empty property rate relief in England the UK government felt able to use a single sentence question within the 3 year independent Lyons review to decide it had consulted on abolition of long term empty property rate relief in England and Wales.

The government's paragraphs on LVT may be accessed here and comments are expected to be returned to the government by the 18th July - accordingly it would be helpful to receive any SPF views by Monday 30th June.