A windfall tax on land values in East London is being considered by the Treasury to pay for the burgeoning cost of hosting the 2012 Olympics.
A raid on the National Lottery, grabbing most non-arts spending, is also being proposed as ministers come to terms with the cost of staging the Games.
The bid estimate of £2.4bn from the public purse is now expected to soar possibly to two or three times that sum.
Gordon Brown is understood to have been involved in talks that fit with Treasury proposals to impose a new “planning gain supplement” on developers whose land increases in value because it gets planning permission.
References: The Times Business 28/10/06 page 56
