John Ritblat said that the proposal to tax landowners who obtain planning permission for development was “an onerous levy”.

He said yesterday: “It is damaging and very short-sighted at this point in the cycle, when we have had a moratorium on development for several years. Just as we are starting to see the market recover, they are suggesting ways of nipping it in the bud.”

The new tax, known as the “planning gain supplement”, will be announced in the Chancellor’s Pre-Budget Report this year. It is likely to apply to commercial and housing land and be used to help to fund new schools and hospitals.

Mr Ritblat said that extracting an upfront tax on development land was not the way to proceed when London had just won the Olympic Games and was seeking ways to improve its transport infrastructure.

“It would be utter madness to replicate so many mistakes that have gone before. We already have a perfectly proper system in place — called capital gains tax,” he said.

There had been several attempts since the Second World War to tax development land, none of which had succeeded.

“It sterilised development for local authorities, pension funds and property companies because everyone virtually downed tools or found alternatives.”

George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor, said: “The planning gain supplement is a windfall tax by another name — this is yet another stealth tax on housing. Gordon Brown has already increased stamp duty and inheritance tax while council tax has soared.

“The forthcoming Pre-Budget Report should not be about increasing tax but about making the UK more productive and competitive.”

Lord Oakeshott of Seagrove Bay, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, said:

“Every Labour government since 1945 has tried to implement a land tax.

“Each time the market for housing land seized up and tax avoiders had a ball. It won’t be a case of fourth time lucky — property developers are past masters at tax avoidance.”

Peter Damesick, head of UK research at CB Richard Ellis, the commercial property consultant, said that the tax plans would create a “field day for lawyers” who would be brought in to decipher how much of the uplift in value of a parcel of land could be attributed to the granting of planning permission.

Last month, Liz Peace, chief executive of the British Property Federation, said that she was “deeply alarmed” by the idea, adding that it could pose a danger to regeneration.

The federation instead wants a planning tariff system that would give a price per square foot for commercial development or a price per unit for homes.

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