Mark Chilton, Chief Executive, calls for the Government to: -
Raise the lower end of the stamp duty threshold to £150,000
Make stamp duty regionally biased with the most expensive areas of the country having a higher starting rate of £250,000
Change Stamp duty to be a progressive tax, not a step function
Introduce higher bands for properties worth over £1,000,000 and £2,000,000
“The Stamp Duty starting threshold has remained unchanged for over ten years; at the very least the Government should introduce inflation linked increases to stamp duty levels in next week’s budget.
“The tax burden should shift from the property poor to property rich. Adding fairer and more progressive levels of stamp duty at the lower end of the housing market and putting in extra tiers at the higher end would mean that the Government still reaps the revenue rewards, whilst helping first time buyers and low earners get a foothold on the property market.”
Purely Mortgages Budget Wish List
IHT Liability
“In addition to a stamp duty overhaul, I would like to see principal private residences taken out of inheritance tax totally. With the pensions time bomb about to hit and individuals having to look to their property wealth for any number of different and conflicting funding uses, this inflation windfall tax is a burden too far.
CGT
“I would like to see a restructuring of CGT on residential housing; there are massive inequalities in the system currently, caused by the principal private residence rule. This means that the single owner of a £5m home can get a massive tax free gain, whilst the owner of a £200,000 home, with either a second home or a buy to let of a similar amount, suffers CGT on the second property.
“Equally the scheme acts as a disincentive to marriage, since the principal private residence is not personal but linked to married couples. I would throw all this away and allow each individual to have an indexed lifetime CGT relief on residential property. There would be no limit on the number of properties and the cap could initially be set at a politically acceptable level of £1m. There are interesting parallels here with the pension cap and such a scheme would be a vote winner in middle England, along with producing a much fairer environment.
“Most of this however, is just blue sky. Probably all we’ll get is some tinkering with the Home Information Pack legislation and some new rules on usurious lending.”
