A Conservative government remains committed to a form of development land tax along the lines of Labour’s community infrastructure and levy, said Shadow Housing Minister Grant Shapps today.
He said that once in government, the Tories would monitor how effectively the proposed levy was working before deciding whether or not to scrap it.
‘We think in principle something along those lines should be there,’ said Shapps.
‘Given the way the market is operating at the moment, it is unlikely that the levy would be activated by the government as a way of clawing back some of the profit made by development.’
‘However, it is on the statute book and we would leave it there. We would look at where the market is in 18 months time and then take a view. Things might be better in the market by then and there could be a place for this tax, or God forbid, things might have got a lot worse.’
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