NAEA: Stamp duty should be revised

12-Feb-2009

The government should revise its policy on stamp duty as occurred during the last recession in the UK, says the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA).

Peter Bolton King, chief executive of the NAEA, claims revising the tax would help stimulate recovery in the housing market, as well as reducing the costs facing those looking to finance their first property purchase.

He said imposing stamp duty on first-time buyers and other homeowners has no purpose but to "give the government as much cash from as many people as they can get away with".

The government raised the stamp duty threshold last year to £175,000 amid the onset of the economic crisis, but chancellor Alistair Darling's pre-budget report did not suspend the levy - a move which the NAEA had been calling for.

Now, figures from the Centre for Policy Studies have shown that stamp duty thresholds were raised by eightfold in the early 1990s - an equivalent rise today would take it to £1 million.

Mr King said this statistic shows that the current stamp duty threshold is "not helping anyone" and the NAEA believes the tax should be suspended and revised.

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