Stamp duty would be abolished if the Conservative Party wins the next General Election, Kemi Badenoch has confirmed at this year’s Tory conference.
The Conservative leader confirmed the tax levied on property purchases would be scrapped in a complete overhaul to the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) regime.
During her address to Tory Party members, Ms Badenoch described ending stamp duty as being “key to a fairer society”.
Britons usually pay the stamp duty land tax on increasing portions of the property price when you buy residential property, for example a house or flat.
Ms Badenoch has confirmed stamp duty would be axed under the Tories
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GB NEWS
She told conference attendees: “At he heart of a Conservative Britain is a country where people who wish to own their first home. But our housing market is not working as it should.”
“The next Conservative government will abolish stamp duty We must free up our housing market because a society where no one can afford to buy or move is a society where social mobility is dead.”
According to Ms Badenoch, the move would “benefit people of all ages” because “conservatism must speak to all generations”.
She asserted that it will bolster the economy more widely as it will encourage the spending that goes with moving house – on movers, builders, decorators, furniture and other areas.
Tom Clougherty, the excutive director of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), described the abolishment of stamp duty as the “single best reform any government could make to Britain’s tax system”
He explained: “As things stand, this outdated and uneconomic levy is wreaking havoc on our already troubled housing market – by deterring sales and depressing house-building.
“Indeed, research suggests that the wider social and economic harms are equivalent to three-quarters of the revenue raised – and that’s on top of the loss to the people actually paying the tax.
“This means that stamp duty is many times more damaging, as a source of revenue, than broad-based taxes on income and consumption. Any proposal to permanently cut or abolish it is therefore extremely welcome.”
In England and Northern Ireland, stamp duty is charged in bands for standard home purchases, which means a buyer pays a different rate on each portion of the property price.
Currently, Britons pay nothing on the first £250,000 and pay five per cent on the portion between £250,000 and £925,000 at which the home is valued.
Homebuyers pay 10 per cent begin to pay 10 per cent on the portion between £925,001 and £1.5millio, and 12 per cent if the property is valued anything above £1.5million.
It should be noted that first-time buyers pay no stamp duty on the first £425,000 of a property costing up to £625,000, and five per cent on the portion between £425,001 and £625,000.
Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride has backed the reforms
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GB NewsFor the first-time buyers, the discount is not applied if the property costs more than £625,000, the discount doesn’t apply, with the standard rates being used instead.
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