The Council of Mortgage Lenders has called for a complete reform of Stamp Duty regulation, despite the initial threshold being doubled to £120,000 in the last budget. This was the first time that the threshold had been altered since it was set at £60,000 in 1993.
If it had been indexed in line with house price inflation over the last twelve years, it would stand at £157,000 now.
Figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders have found that this reform will cost the Exchequer around £250 million in lost revenue every year, and estimate that the increase would enable an extra 370,000 homebuyers to escape the duty.
There were around 230,000 house purchases last year in the £120,000-£150,000 bracket, which will still be liable for this tax. Around one fifth of these live in the South of England, where property prices are much higher than elsewhere in the country.
The exemption helps around 62% of the country as a whole, but only 43% living in Southern England.
Our view
The message is clear to us all, stamp duty is yet another stealth tax that we all put up with. Whether you like it or not, the Government has to raise revenue to pay for services and even though you think you pay lower taxes, the reality is that most of us pay more.