Chippy_boy
Well-Known Member
What a nasty, pernicious and stupidly counter-productive tax that is.
It's been 21 years since I moved house and I am not planning on moving any time soon, so I have no horse in this race. But recently I had cause to take a look at it. The rates people with larger properties are being charged should they wish to move, are just obscene.
Did you realise that the stamp duty rate on property value above £925k is 10%??? And 12% on properties over £1.5m. 10% or 12% of their ALREADY TAXED income?
I don't own a house worth anything like these amounts and could not move into one either, so I could say it's no skin off my nose. But these are STUPID amounts of money IMO. Someone wanting to buy an e.g. £1.25m house has to cough up £66,250 in stamp duty alone??? This is bonkers. A high earner perhaps had to earn nearly double that, pre-tax, so maybe £120,000 of your gross earnings, taken off you, just to move house? Insane.
You might argue that people buying that sort of property have money to burn, but that is far from the case. Putting aside the fact that hardly anyone has "spare" money to burn, many people are simply moving from one house to a slightly different one. Maybe a bit bigger, maybe a bit smaller, perhaps in a different area. Yet they are effectively FINED for doing so.
What a stupid policy that is. I've not moved house many times, but every time I have, it's meant endless trips to B&Q buying god knows what; new carpets; curtains; plants and gardening gear; paint; maybe some furniture. Perhaps you get the kitchen or bathroom re-done and god knows what else. Tens of thousands spent, generating income for local suppliers, who also pay their taxes. In short, moving house is a GOOD THING for the economy. And of course a flexible and MOBILE labour market is good for the economy generally. But instead we fine people for the temerity of actually wanting to move house?
I wonder how many elderly people are sitting on larger properties and would be quite happy to downsize, but don't have a spare £30k (or whatever) in cash that they want to bung the taxman? How many people are put off taking a better job and moving house because of the offensive stamp duty charges?
If I was in charge and making changes, stamp duty would be perhaps the very first tax I'd be taking a look at. I think it's a dreadful tax.
EDIT: It's also a tax I find it hard to think of any moral justification for. If someone owns a house worth (say) £650,000 and they want to move to another house also worth £650,000, why on earth should the taxman be receiving any more at all from such a transaction? What possible justification for such robbery is there?
It's been 21 years since I moved house and I am not planning on moving any time soon, so I have no horse in this race. But recently I had cause to take a look at it. The rates people with larger properties are being charged should they wish to move, are just obscene.
Did you realise that the stamp duty rate on property value above £925k is 10%??? And 12% on properties over £1.5m. 10% or 12% of their ALREADY TAXED income?
I don't own a house worth anything like these amounts and could not move into one either, so I could say it's no skin off my nose. But these are STUPID amounts of money IMO. Someone wanting to buy an e.g. £1.25m house has to cough up £66,250 in stamp duty alone??? This is bonkers. A high earner perhaps had to earn nearly double that, pre-tax, so maybe £120,000 of your gross earnings, taken off you, just to move house? Insane.
You might argue that people buying that sort of property have money to burn, but that is far from the case. Putting aside the fact that hardly anyone has "spare" money to burn, many people are simply moving from one house to a slightly different one. Maybe a bit bigger, maybe a bit smaller, perhaps in a different area. Yet they are effectively FINED for doing so.
What a stupid policy that is. I've not moved house many times, but every time I have, it's meant endless trips to B&Q buying god knows what; new carpets; curtains; plants and gardening gear; paint; maybe some furniture. Perhaps you get the kitchen or bathroom re-done and god knows what else. Tens of thousands spent, generating income for local suppliers, who also pay their taxes. In short, moving house is a GOOD THING for the economy. And of course a flexible and MOBILE labour market is good for the economy generally. But instead we fine people for the temerity of actually wanting to move house?
I wonder how many elderly people are sitting on larger properties and would be quite happy to downsize, but don't have a spare £30k (or whatever) in cash that they want to bung the taxman? How many people are put off taking a better job and moving house because of the offensive stamp duty charges?
If I was in charge and making changes, stamp duty would be perhaps the very first tax I'd be taking a look at. I think it's a dreadful tax.
EDIT: It's also a tax I find it hard to think of any moral justification for. If someone owns a house worth (say) £650,000 and they want to move to another house also worth £650,000, why on earth should the taxman be receiving any more at all from such a transaction? What possible justification for such robbery is there?