1
Apr
New call for stamp duty suspension
Stamp duty should be temporarily suspended on all residential
property, it has been argued.
Independent mortgage firm John Charcol has said that if chancellor
Alistair Darling were to completely drop the tax it would cost
under £2 billion per year, less than one-sixth of the revenue
loss of the recent VAT cut.
Senior technical director at the firm Ray Boulger commented that
such a move should help first-time buyers, commenting that
borrowing money to pay for stamp duty "was easy until the credit
crunch, but can now be difficult with the much lower maximum
loan-to-values in today's market".
He suggested the suspension should be indefinite so buyers do not
risk delaying in the knowledge of how long they had to buy, while a
future chancellor could restore the tax in a new form at his or her
own discretion.
With the Budget approaching, there have been numerous calls for
changes to stamp duty.
The National Association of Estate Agents recently called for the
levy to either be abolished or reformed.
