Dredging around for an election lifebelt Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is running another pre-Autumn Statement flag up the flagpole to see how it flys. The scoop in The Times this morning floats the idea of starting Stamp Duty at £300k rather than at £250k as at present?
My thoughts?
- It would only apply for England as Stamp Duty is a devolved tax.
- It would hurt first time buyers who currently don’t pay Stamp Duty on the first £425,000.
- The market will seize up as buyers wait to see if they might make a saving of up to £2,500.
- It will push up prices as buyers competing for limited stock use the saving to out-bid each other.
- It might be inflationary.
I had a turn on TimesRadio to explain my concerns. They were kind enough to tweet out some of it.
I suspect it’s another of those ideas that are being tested through the press and will be denied and discredited as has happened too many times before. Anyone got a sense of Deja vu?