In his campaign launch speech, Burnham said he wanted “the biggest programme of council house building since the Second World War”.
He suggested this could be funded by rediverting the existing £39bn affordable housing programme entirely to social rent homes.
Also at his campaign launch, Burnham indicated he wanted to change how business, property and land is taxed, including reforms to what he described as a “highly regressive” council tax.
Burnham has long expressed support for a land value tax (LVT) – an annual tax based solely on the value of the land itself, excluding any buildings or improvements on the property.
In 2022, in an interview with LBC, he described the measure as a “very productive form of taxation because you make sure land is used for good, productive purposes, and if people are sitting on it and hoarding it, they get taxed and that money can come back and be redistributed.”
He has previously suggested the tax could be used to scrap stamp duty, which is levied when you buy a new property or land.
An IFS report said a land value tax had a number of advantages, including it being in fixed supply and not being able to move abroad meaning it would “not create the disincentive effects associated with other taxes”.
The report described it as an “efficient way to tax a wealthy group”, but added that there may be some concerns over fairness.
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