Stamp Duty changes.

[Andy G]

Rolfey - did you get yours bought in time?

Stampy duty cheque I wrote would have bought a Porsche, under new rules I'd have paid for a GT3 - useless tax in the first place.

[GregR]

Not yet bought.

Robin, I don't agree with your rationale, those that can 'afford' a £1m house won't necessarily have a £250k wedge just sitting there - if they did they'd be buying a £1.25m house. Very few people buy 'less' than they can afford - you squeeze yourself until the pips squeak. All it means is we now (as of March/April)get less for our money. It also means people selling have a less attractive property to sell - they lose money too.

As far as fair taxes go, stamp duty as a concept is right up there with IHT.

[robin]

Sure, you can argue that there should be no stamp duty at all - I wouldn't argue against you - unless the tax that replaces it is worse!!!

When I said afford, I meant that the transaction could still happen, albeit with some loss in value to both parties; clearly the absolute maximum price you can "afford" under the new rules is lower than under the old rules.

Not everyone buys the absolutely most expensive house they can afford (I have never had a mortgage of more than about 70%, for example).

Cheers,
Robin

[tut]

With the present state of our National Debt the money from SD is needed, and there must be a fair bit less coming in with fuel tax at the moment.

I do not want to pay more Income Tax, but I would not object to a rise in the lower rate of a few % to pay for better Public Services and to get rid of the Debt on which we are paying £billions in interest. It is probably the best way to get a large amount in as everybody would pay it with a salary above the tax allowance. However it would be the death penalty for the Party that tried to introduce it, so would never happen.

Unfortunately you can not get through to the average thickie that over taxing the higher earners and wealthy will not bring in anywhere near the amount needed, but it makes them feel good shouting it out.

tut

[GregR]

With the present state of our National Debt the money from SD is needed, and there must be a fair bit less coming in with fuel tax at the moment.

I do not want to pay more Income Tax, but I would not object to a rise in the lower rate of a few % to pay for better Public Services and to get rid of the Debt on which we are paying £billions in interest. It is probably the best way to get a large amount in as everybody would pay it with a salary above the tax allowance. However it would be the death penalty for the Party that tried to introduce it, so would never happen.

Unfortunately you can not get through to the average thickie that over taxing the higher earners and wealthy will not bring in anywhere near the amount needed, but it makes them feel good shouting it out.

tut

Yup - you may be familiar with the Laffer curve, not quite as bad as being impaled by Morton's fork ..

[tut]

I wasn't but I am now.

tut

[flyingscot68]

We have it reasonably easy here.
When I lived in Oz you had to pay stamp duty on lots of things including cars, bikes, boats and trailers both new and used.
During my time there I bought 2 x 4x4's, 2 x boats, 3 x dirt bikes and one trailer. That came to a fair amount in tax and of course when I sold them on the buyer had to pay stamp duty too.


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