Tax the land

It IS encouraging that your three correspondents agree rising house prices are a fool's paradise (Letters, 5 August).

How absurd that rampant inflation in the price of such a fundamental necessity as a place to live should be seen as a good economic indicator. That was the fallacy that led us to the present crisis - will we never learn?

Ron Greer offers the correct analysis and provides the answer in the form of an annual charge on the rental value of land. It is the land, not the bricks and mortar, that is the volatile element in the property market.