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Thu, 20 November 2008 |
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Conveyancing News: 498,000 Less Property Sales with Stamp Duty Changes |
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Article Published: 30-Apr-2007 Since he has been Chancellor, Gordon Browns changes to stamp duty have meant that half a million fewer people in the UK have moved home. According to research from Cebr, the amount of money raised by stamp duty tax has increased from £675 million to around £7 billion since 1997. Cebr research has also found that the stamp duty changes have resulted in the number of property sales falling by 498,000 over the decade. The Labour government introduced higher bands for stamp duty when it came to power - seeing the tax double to 2% of the value of more expensive homes initially. This rose again to 3% in 1998 and 4% in 2000. However, with rising house prices in the UK more and more properties were becoming liable to pay stamp duty and some at the higher thresholds. While Mr Brown has increased the lower threshold for stamp duty to be charged from 60,000 to £125,000 since Labour came to office, the higher thresholds at £250,000 and £500,000 have remained unchanged. Cebr believes that this action has distorted the UK property market. Chief Executive Douglas McWilliams says, "If you tax something, it normally affects people's behaviour and so housing transactions have run consistently below their levels during the 1980s housing upturn." Cebr argues that stamp duty has contributed to the lack of supply on the UK market by pushing up house prices and heavy tax burdens have caused homeowners to be unwilling to put their homes on the market. Source: Conveyancing-0800.co.uk |
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