CALLS for a land value tax at RMT’s Fighting Tube Cuts conference over the weekend are long overdue.

The private ownership of land is itself bizarre. Land is a natural resource which should belong to everyone.

Much of it originally did — the criminal theft of communally owned land by the aristocracy in the enclosures of the commons during the 18th century, described in grim detail by Karl Marx in Capital, helped shape the dysfunctional economic system we live under today.

Only a revolution in the way we run our society would right that historic wrong. But a land value tax, as proposed by the Labour Land Campaign, would at least ensure that people who profit from land through the accident of ownership are made to pay something for the privilege.

And, as former vice-chairman of Transport for London (TfL) Dave Wetzel points out, much of the value of land is derived from access to services provided at public expense.

It’s also good news that the transport union and a campaign for taxing land asset wealth can join forces to demand that landowners pay something back to society.

Just as the fat-cat corporations shovelling money abroad in order to avoid paying their fair share of tax rely for their profits on things we pay for — from an efficient transport infrastructure to an educated workforce — land prices rise dramatically when public amenities are close by.

London’s mass transit systems, including the Tube, massively inflate the value of privately owned land in the capital — and their safety and efficiency are under threat.

Reckless staffing cuts are leaving train stations empty for much of the day, creating endless potential problems for those who need assistance for any reason and putting passengers at increased risk of criminal or terrorist activity.

At the same time an unwillingness to employ conductors or process non-electronic payments is seeing buses refuse to allow people to pay in cash.

This is extremely dangerous, leading to the prospect of anyone stranded without money on a pre-paid Oyster card unable to travel — or, worse, unable to get home.

And to cap it all London Mayor Boris Johnson is one of the cheerleaders for driverless trains, removing the safety valve of human oversight which could prevent fatal accidents if anything goes wrong on the underground — as things quite frequently do.

TfL brags about bringing transport into the modern world through these “reforms.” But has anyone noticed that “modernisation” in every service nowadays means managed deterioration?

Fewer staff on worse wages offering reduced options for passengers does not improve transport. It makes it worse.

The bottom line is these “reforms” are about cost-cutting — so Mr Wetzel’s recommendation that we get those who profit from the network to pay more towards its upkeep is spot on.

And a tax on land would not merely benefit large cities like London. A third of Britain’s land is still owned by the aristocracy and charging them for it would raise tens of billions a year.

This would enable our society to pay for vastly improved public services and decent social security while putting a brake on flyaway property prices which have left a generation unable to afford sky-high rents and mortgages.

And unlike corporate profits, land doesn’t tend to disappear. It would be easy to keep track of and tax.

This is an idea with no drawbacks. Labour leader Ed Miliband has hinted at an interest in it — he should have the courage to make it his party’s policy ahead of next year’s general election.