What is a land value tax?
A land value tax (LVT) charges you for the land your home sits on — not the house standing on it. Build an extension and your bill doesn't move. It is the idea behind a lot of the "Burnham land tax" coverage, though the plan the Prime Minister has actually endorsed is something subtly different, and the distinction changes who pays.
The idea in one paragraph
Take two identical plots on the same street. One has a four-bedroom house with a loft conversion and a new kitchen; the other has a run-down bungalow. Under council tax, and under any tax on total property value, the first pays considerably more. Under a land value tax they pay exactly the same, because the land beneath them is worth the same. The tax follows location — which is created by the community, the transport links and the schools — rather than the building, which was created by the owner.
That is the whole argument in miniature. Supporters say you should not be taxed more for improving your own home, and that land values rise because of public investment, so the public should capture some of it. Opponents say it produces bills untethered from ability to pay, and that valuing land separately from buildings across an entire country is a fantasy.
Is there a land value tax in the UK?
No. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all run some version of council tax or domestic rates, plus business rates on commercial premises. None of these is a land value tax — they all fall on property as a whole, and council tax in England is still calculated from 1991 valuations.
LVT surfaces in British politics every decade or so and has never been legislated. The obstacle is always the same one: you cannot charge a percentage of land value until you know the land value of every plot in the country, separated from whatever is built on it. The UK has never assembled that data. The fact that council tax still runs on values from the year the Soviet Union dissolved tells you how hard governments find revaluation of any kind.
Has Andy Burnham proposed a land value tax?
Partly — and this is the confusion worth clearing up, because it drives a lot of searching.
Burnham, now Prime Minister, has spoken favourably of land value taxation as a principle, particularly as a replacement for business rates. That is why "Burnham land tax" is such a common search. But the concrete, costed plan he has endorsed is the Fairer Share Proportional Property Tax: a flat 0.48% annual charge on a home's whole value — land and building together — replacing council tax and stamp duty in England.
So the thing with his name attached is a property tax, not a land value tax. If you want to know what it would cost you, our property tax calculator models the 0.48% plan against your current council tax bill.
Land value tax vs property tax: why the difference matters
- Improvements. Under a property tax, an extension or a loft conversion raises your bill because it raises the property's value. Under LVT it doesn't, because the land hasn't changed. This is the single strongest argument for LVT: it stops taxing the thing you want more of, which is housing.
- Flats. A block of forty flats occupies one plot. Split the land value forty ways and each household's share is small, so flat-dwellers generally do well under LVT and less well under a whole-property tax.
- Empty and banked land. LVT charges undeveloped land the same as developed land of equal value, so hoarding a plot while it appreciates becomes expensive. A property tax charges an empty site almost nothing. This is why LVT is often argued for as a housebuilding measure rather than a revenue one.
- Valuation difficulty. A property tax needs a value for each home — hard. LVT needs a value for each plot's land alone — considerably harder, because that figure is never directly observed in a sale. You buy houses, not bare land.
Who would pay more?
Broadly: owners of expensive land, large plots, and land held undeveloped. Detached homes with big gardens in high-value areas are the clearest losers; flats and terraces on small footprints in cheaper areas are the clearest winners. Because land values in London and the South East dwarf those elsewhere, any national land-based charge shifts the burden south — the same tension that has met the 0.48% property tax, where the Centre for London calculates a £600,000 London home paying around £812 a year more than its current Band D bill.
There is also a well-known hard case: the asset-rich, cash-poor household. Someone on a modest pension in a home whose land has appreciated for forty years faces a bill unrelated to their income. Every serious LVT proposal answers this with deferral — the charge rolls up and is settled when the property is sold or inherited — but "a debt secured against your home" is a difficult thing to campaign on.
Where you might see it next
Nothing is proposed in the UK today. The live property tax questions are the 0.48% Proportional Property Tax the Prime Minister has backed, the £2m+ mansion tax surcharge already legislated for 2028, and UCL's Prosperity 2030 blueprint, which proposes a bolder 1% property tax. All three tax the whole property. A genuine land value tax remains what it has been for a century in Britain: widely admired by economists, and never quite implemented.
Last reviewed 22 July 2026. For general information only — not financial, legal or tax advice.
Frequently asked questions
What is a land value tax in simple terms?
An annual tax on what the land under a property is worth, ignoring the building on top. Two identical plots pay the same whether one holds a mansion and the other a bungalow — so improving your home never raises the bill.
Is there a land value tax in the UK?
No. The UK has council tax and business rates, neither of which is an LVT. It has been proposed many times and never legislated, mainly because it requires valuing every plot of land in the country separately from its buildings.
Has Andy Burnham proposed a land value tax?
He has spoken favourably of the principle, which is why "Burnham land tax" is a common search. But the concrete plan he has endorsed is the Fairer Share Proportional Property Tax — 0.48% on the whole property value. That's a property tax, not an LVT.
What is the difference between a land value tax and a property tax?
A property tax charges land plus buildings, so improvements raise your bill. A land value tax charges only the land, so improvements are untaxed. Flats and small plots do better under LVT; large plots and undeveloped land do worse.
Who would pay more under a land value tax?
Owners of valuable or large plots, and anyone holding undeveloped land. Flat owners generally pay little because a block splits one plot many ways. Modest homes on cheaper land in the North and Midlands would typically pay less than under council tax.
Why has the UK never introduced one?
Valuation. You need a current value for every plot's land alone — a figure never directly observed, since people buy houses rather than bare land. Council tax still uses 1991 valuations for the same reason: revaluation creates identifiable losers.