Stamp duty ‘should be scrapped on £500k homes to get Brits on housing ladder’
STAMP duty should be scrapped on main homes costing up to £500,000 to get Brits on the housing ladder, a Tory think-tank today demands.
Onward says the big giveaway should be paid for by whacking taxes on empty houses and second home buyers.
The influential think-tank said the move will take a whopping 770,000 Brits out stamp duty altogether.
This would save a family buying an average priced home of £228,000 around £2,080 on the purchase.
While Londoners buying an average priced home in the capital of £457,000 will save £12,850 in the giveaway.
Onward is urging Boris Johnson to make fixing Britain’s broken housing market a top priority if he is crowned leader tomorrow.
Chris Philip, a Tory MP and author of the report, said: “It is essential that the next Prime Minister takes early action to back homeownership and tear down the biggest barrier to hardworking people getting on the property ladder by radically cutting stamp duty.
“These stamp duty cuts are designed to kick-start the home ownership dream – just as Thatcher did in the 1980s.
‘HOME OWNERSHIP DREAM’
“These reforms will get the whole housing market moving – and help make sure we are making the best use of housing stock by making it easier for older people in large houses to move, allowing growing families to move in.”
Onward says the tax giveaway for first time buyers and struggling Brits can be paid for by imposing taxes elsewhere.
It is calling for a 1 per cent tax on homes left empty for six months or more, a raise in stamp duty for second home and foreign buyers, and an end to council tax reliefs for second home owners.
Meanwhile, in a separate report, Tory MP and Boris backer Jacob Rees-Mogg is also calling for urgent housing reform.
Writing for the IEA think-tank, he calls for housing to be built on parts of the green-belt where there is the highest need – particularly by transport hubs.
While he says individual streets and villages should be given the power to “build and beautify” new homes.
Britain’s broken housing market was blames as one of the biggest reasons why young Brits deserted the Tories and flocked to Jeremy Corbyn at the last election.
Both Mr Johnson and Jeremy Hunt have vowed to tackle the housing crisis if they become PM.
The Sun Says
WE welcome the call by think-tank Onward for a massive cut in stamp duty, taking all properties under £500,000 out of the tax.
It would mean only the rich have to fork out, so nearly all Brits can move house without paying the state for the privilege.
And crucially, a cut would liberate the country’s gummed-up housing market, removing a major barrier discouraging older people from downsizing and freeing up space for new buyers.
Millions are shut out of the housing ladder. Making it cheaper to move would be a major step forward in changing that.
But let’s not forget it’s also urgent that we cut planning red tape and thousands more homes are built.
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