Letter: Land valuations

Graeme Brown (Letters, 4 September) correctly points out that variation in house prices is primarily dependent on the land value on which the house is situated.

This intellectual separation of the value of the "bricks and mortar" per se and the site value of land is vital to comprehending the problem and propounding a solution.

The value of unimproved land is not determined by individual or corporate entrepreneurial activity, but by providence in geology and climate, and through societal demand and collective infrastructural inputs. Thus the rental value of land is created by society as a whole and not the individual or business occupying the land. To solve the problems outlined by Mr Brown, the collection of these rental values (no this is not a land tax) as the basis of public revenue should replace all forms of direct taxation on work and property improvements. Thus we can get a stimulus to economic activity and property improvement, whilst stabilising site prices by ending land speculation.

RON GREER

Armoury House

Blair Atholl, Perthshire