The Halifax has called on all parties within the Government to increase the stamp-duty threshold from £60,000 to £156,900. In their report, the Halifax found that 70% of the people surveyed, wanted the Government to bring the tax in line with rising house prices.
In the last 11 years, the total duty raised has increased from £465 million to £4.3 billion, and has shown that even the average first time buyer now has to pay the tax, compared with 1993, when only the average first time buyer in London had to pay.
The average property price exceeded £250,000 in 16% of UK towns, which means that more homeowners now have to pay the higher rate of stamp duty that was introduced in 1997.
Our view
The failure to increase stamp duty and indeed the failure to increase Inheritance Tax thresholds in line with increases in property values is classic Government 'stealth tax'.
You pay more tax now than you ever have done. Alas, we suspect it would be equally bad under the Tories.