It matters because when a country (i)is busy trying to balance its budget in a time of relatively little economic growth and (ii)has experienced a sustained and relatively rapid growth in land values over a long period of time, taxing some of that property price appreciation is sensible economic policy, and  often-opaque[1] tax-evading shell companies are a natural target for slapping with a property tax if they want to continue holding onto all that prime real estate.<p>[1]probably a sizeable portion of these apparently foreign entities are actually holding companies for Britons and UK registered companies.