I'm watching Monarch of the Glen and got curious about landowners in Scotland.
From what I've read, it sounds like the situation is pretty creepy - the landowners hide behind offshore tax havens, legally dodge taxes, and even receive grants for land maintenance. It reminds me of the farming subsidies here in the US - people think the money is going to independent farmers, but based upon what I've read, a lot of the funds actually goes to people and companies that have absolutely nothing to do with farming!
Scotland landownership is interesting topic, and these are the best websites I found about it:
- http://www.caledonia.org.uk/land/wos.htm
- http://www.caledonia.org.uk/land/whfp-011120.htm
- http://www.whoownsscotland.org.uk/ - requires subscription to view the data, but summarizes that even today, 8,201,739 acres are subdivided into only 1400 landholdings!
- http://www.whoownstheworld.com/
- http://www.who-owns-britain.com/
I've heard that Ted Turner owns more land than any other American - I wonder if there are any landowners of Scotland that own more land than he does? Apparently, there are several royal families / individuals with ownership of greater acreage.
