Stamp Duty Should Be Axed

Mortgage brokers call on the Government to suspend the stamp duty on residential properties for an unspecified period of time as the amount of transactions on the property market has fallen by more than 60% in a year and house prices have decreased almost by 25%. They claim the impact on the Treasury will not be very serious (estimates suggest that under current market conditions, the annual revenue from stamp duty does not exceed £2 billion), whereas it will constitute a significant relief for the housing market. Earlier this month, both The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) and the National Association of Estate Agents called on the Government to totally revise the tax policy. Experts believe that a reform is urgent as the housing market is an essential component of the UK economy, and affects various segments of the country’s life. Suspension of the stamp duty will mean that the borrowers will have to take out much smaller loans, which in its turn should stimulate the housing market because the majority of banks and building societies live off of property loans. Any kind of improvement on the housing market will also mean significant benefits for those institutions.