The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Institute in tax reform call
A leading thinktank has called on the UK Government to deliver a £10 billion economic fillip by scrapping stamp duty to boost the housing sector.
The Adam Smith Institute says the property levy is “gumming up the housing market”, stopping people from moving jobs and keeping them in houses that are too large for their needs.
Executive director Sam Bowman has now called on Chancellor Philip Hammond to put stamp duty at the top of his agenda in his Budget speech next month.
“Stamp duty is the worst tax we’ve got, almost as bad as setting fire to the money instead of raising it in tax,” Mr Bowman said.
“The reason is that Britain’s productivity problem is in large part a mobility problem.
“People cannot move to where the best jobs for them are because the houses aren’t being built, and that’s made even worse by stamp duty keeping older people in family homes that are too large for them.
“Stamp duty is gumming up the housing market and keeping people trapped in the jobs that aren’t best for them, and scrapping it should be a no-brainer for a government.”
Report author Ben Southwood said: “Caution is a virtue – but complacency is not. Stamp duty has had its day and should be consigned to the dustbin of history.”
A Treasury spokesman said: “We reformed stamp duty so that more people can achieve their dream of owning a home, and cut the tax for 98% of people who pay it.”