Land Development Tax and the Kate Barker Report

Whilst there has been much attention paid to the detail released in the 2004 Finance Bill, one matter referred to in the Chancellor's 2004 Budget speech which did has not resulted in revised legislation but which almost certainly will in due course, was the acceptance by the Chancellor of the recommendations relating to the UK housing stock availability made in the Kate Barker report. The report runs to 149 pages with the tax review/implications covering some 21 pages. Perhaps the more worrying clauses are contained in recommendation 26, which starts off with the comment that "the Government should use tax measures to extract some of the windfall that accrues to landowners from the sale of their land for residential development", and goes on to recommend "that the Government should impose a planning-gain supplement on the granting of planning permission".

We would be pleased to discuss with you details of the tax implications of this report.