Sky High Prices Push 4.5 Million Properties Into Stamp Duty Bands
Published / Last Updated on 03/05/2022
The continued stellar rise in UK property prices has pushed another 4.5 million properties into the stamp duty bracket.
Currently, no stamp duty is payable for properties below the following values;
- England £125,000
- Northern Ireland £125,000
- Scotland £145,000
- Wales £180,000
The average property price in the UK has risen by £29,000 since March 2020 and continues to rise. This trickles through not just to pushing more properties into stamp duty territory but also pushing larger properties into higher tax band thresholds. In addition, all of our allowances and thresholds are currently frozen until 2026.
Comment
The government as beneficiary of these unprecedented values and higher stamp duty revenues will also benefit from higher estate values for inheritance tax. Already, and according to HMRC, stamp duty receipts were £15bn pre-pandemic 2019-20 and already for year 2021-22 at near;y £20bn. It is a fact of life that to pay for covid-19 debt and also more funding for the NHS, we must pay more taxes.
Inflation across the board will benefit the government for stamp duty, fuel taxes, VAT on fuel, corporation taxes, income taxes on payrises and even property equity on their 20% Help to Buy loans. We have been warning people since the start of the pandemic, governments want inflation, not just to devalue debt but also to raise revenue.