The number of people hit by the stamp duty tax has reached an all time high during the last twelve months. However, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders, the number of people paying the tax differs greatly from the north of the country to the south. In London for example, just 3% of people do not pay stamp duty, whilst in the north of England, that figure is 82%.
Due to the way that the stamp duty tax is structured, more first time buyers are now paying this tax and although the government is anxious to make it easier for first time buyers to get on the property ladder, the amount of revenue that this produces would be hard to lose.
Our view
This is a wealth tax on the people and will continue to be so. If the Government increases stamp duty limits or removes it altogether, they will still have to tax you somewhere else.