About Dara McHugh
Website: http://smarttaxes.org
dara has written 16 articles so far, you can find them below.

Site Value Tax: taxation for a sustainable society

The land market currently distorts our economy. Unlike investment into tools, machinery, computers, new factories and capital equipment, greater investment into landholdings creates no new wealth. An annual Site Value Tax on the value of zoned land would help build a sensible and realistic land market, encouraging landowners to develop and maintain their land or release it for sale. Smart Taxes has just released a brochure which provides a clear overview of how such a tax could be implemented in Ireland, as well as the improvements it would bring about.

George Monbiot on Housing Under-Occupancy

George Monbiot has an article in the Guardian about housing under-occupancy, drawing attention to two contradictory housing crises: under-supply of housing stock and under-occupancy of existing houses. The issue is surplus housing – the remarkable growth of space that people don’t need. Between 2003 and 2008 (the latest available figures), there was a 45% increase [...]