Land and Tax reform in China - free talk 16th September

The next meeting of PLRG, on Thursday 16th September (6pm) at London South Bank University, will hear from its Chairman Dave Wetzel about Land Value Taxation in China. Dave has been invited several times to China to lecture in recent years at conferences and meet with public officials to discuss LVT. They are interested in ensuring that the benefits of new urban infrastructure are 'recycled' as public revenue.

I was already aware that there was a profound impact of Henry George's ideas in China a hundred years ago. In addition to the fluke that the barren rock of Hong Kong, occupied in the mid-nineteenth century (before HG wrote Progress & Poverty) led to it having almost no freehold land - and hence ensured that most of the wealth arising from its prosperity under British rule was recovered by the Crown and helped keep other taxes to a minimum - there was this later but more direct influence on China's emerging nationalists.

You might wish to read a fascinating article about how it came about that nationalists fleeing mainland China brought LVT with them - and what happened next - in an article published in America 10 years ago.

If you intend to come to Dave Wetzel's talk, please email Tony Vickers, PLRG Hon Sec. Space is limited