Clobbered by tax

SIR – An employee earning £80,000 moves to a £1.1 million house, possibly equivalent to the house just sold.

Income tax and national insurance liability will be £25,823; stamp duty will be £53,750; and a recent estimate of yearly indirect taxes for an average householder is £5,000. The total paid to the state is therefore £84,573.

Nothing much will have changed financially for the employee apart from a £4,573 deficit in the year, even before any family living expenses.

The Chancellor should rectify this. Richard Corry

Stroud, Gloucestershire