While some governments recover rents …
Irish State pays English lords for Eire land
| Governments both pay and recover “ground rent”, or, the socially-generated value of locations. Not only do governments have a hard time recovering site value, they also have a hard time spending the revenue fairly or efficiently. We trim, blend, and append three 2011 articles from: (1) Irish Times, May 16, by Carl O’Brien; (2) Fiji Broadcasting Corporation, May 18; and (3) Interfax-Ukrain, May 17. |
by Carl O’Brien, by FBC, and by Interfax-Ukrain
- State making ground rent payments on 53 properties
The Government is facing fresh calls to abolish ground rent payments following the latest figures which show the State is making payments for more than 50 properties such as Government Buildings and Dublin Castle.
Data compiled by the Office of Public Works shows the State is paying ground rent to landlords such as the Earl of Pembroke for buildings on Merrion Square, and the Duke of Leinster, who owns land where the National Library is situated.
Ground rents, often regarded as a legacy of our colonial past, are payable in cases where a person owns the building but not the land on which it is built. They are also known as a leasehold.
In the case of the State, the rent is hardly crippling. The combined total rental payments for all 53 properties on an annual basis amount to just €5,129.
The State’s ground rent bill for Iveagh House on Stephen’s Green is €257.76 and it is €220 for the Four Courts.
The bill for Dublin Castle is just €7.33.
Other buildings where the State is paying ground rent include the Customs House in Cork, Dunsink Observatory, and the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum, Dublin.
Sinn Féin has called for an end to the system of paying rent to “British absentee landlords”.
A closer scrutiny of ground rent payments paid by the State shows that significant numbers are made to private Irish landlords or holding companies.
For example, the State also pays Bank of Ireland for land on Merrion Square (€116 a year), while the Irish Press plc receives payment for land on Burgh Quay (€177).
Brian Hayes, Minister of State for the Office of Public Works, acknowledged the system was “anachronistic and ridiculous”, but said a referendum would be needed to end it.
He said while this issue was not a major concern for the State, it was a more pressing issue for individual homeowners, especially those selling their homes or seeking to acquire the freehold of their property.
“There are people in the Oldbawn area of my own constituency who receive letters for payment, but many don’t pay.
“The problem is when they sell their home, they often have to buy out the lease or come to some arrangement,” he said.
Critics of ground rents say there is also a risk that when ground rent leases come to an end, landlords may make a claim for up to one-eighth of the value of their home.
There are an estimated 250,000 ground rents around the State.
In 1967, the Government introduced laws enabling tenants to acquire the freehold of their property.
A decade later another law was introduced banning the creation of new ground rents in respect of residential homes, but reserving the right of landlords to create ground rents on all other types of property.
More than 80,000 people have availed of this ground rent purchase scheme, while about 1,600 applications are received to buy out ground rents every year.
To see the whole article, click here
JJS: Is the problem that some owners of buildings must pay rent for the underlying land, or that now they must pay other individuals, people who made neither the land nor its value? Since ground rent is generated by the presence of society, and since everyone has an equal right to Earth, it seems fair we all pay rent to our communities. What really needs abolishing (and hearkens back to the Dark Ages) is taxation on our earnings and enterprises and buildings -- things individuals do produce.
- Land Rent payment system for Fiji
The Ministry of Lands is looking to have a proper land rent payment system.
Permanent Secretary Filimoni Kau says -- they have set up a taskforce to look into land rent arrears and how they can be recovered.
Kau says -- the work of the taskforce is to have dialogue with defaulters and ensure a repayment program is set up.
“The amount of land rent arrears with us that has accumulated have grown to a point where we are almost finding it hard to manage – hence the initiative to set up a taskforce that will look at specifically addressing the issue.”
The Ministry hopes to have the system up and running by the end of this year.
To see the whole article, click here
JJS: Why is it hard for government to recover rent, but easy to tax sales? When government goes after sales and incomes, those monies are already in the flow, and so easier to sidetrack into the government’s coffers. But rents are less often spent, and in larger amounts, so people feel more determined to hang onto them. Yet some governments are more able than others when it comes to rent recovery.
- Kyiv's budget 92.5% fulfilled in Q1, 2011
The Kyiv city budget in January-March 2011 was 92.5% fulfilled, the deputy head of Kyiv City State Administration, Ruslan Kramarenko, has reported.
He said that the general fund of the capital received 12.8% more funds compared to the same period of 2010, excluding subsidies and subventions.
In general, the city budget to in UAH 1.875 billion in revenues, which is 92.5% of the target. A trend of increasing revenues compared to the previous year is now being observed.
The share of revenues from fees for land was 29.5% of total revenues to the Kyiv budget. To increase revenues from fees for land, the tax authorities are taking certain measures. As a result of an inventory of land rent contracts it was established that as of March 1 some 5,800 agreements were registered at the tax authorities.
Some UAH 341.5 million came to the special fund of the Kyiv budget, not including subventions and subsidies, which was 82.1% of the target. The total sum of the subsidies came to UAH 32 million.
To see the whole article, click here
JJS: Is it easier for the City of Kyiv to recover rent than for a city in the West because in Ukraine, much land is still public and all of it was until recently? Whatever the case, for society to share land rent, it could either have the public own the land and lease it out, or have individuals own parcels and pay a tax or dues. Functionally, there’d be little or no difference. Beyond such technicalities, what really matters is that people become freed from paying taxes on their efforts, become responsible for paying their society land dues, and become entitled to a fair share of the revenue.
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Editor Jeffery J. Smith runs the Forum on Geonomics.
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Also see: In New Zealand, Australia, and Canada …
MRT network driving up land value
One gets more allowance, One gets assets frozen |
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