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Stamp duty – should it be scrapped or not?

Journalist: Jake Carter, Mortgage Introducer

ended 17. July 2023

What are the pros of stamp duty?

What are the cons of stamp duty?

Do you believe the government should keep stamp duty as it is, remove it entirely or amend it to some degree? 

8 responses from the Newspage community

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Samuel Mather-Holgate
Independent Financial Adviser at Mather and Murray Financial
Removing stamp duty for the majority of house purchases would be a bold move that would stimulate the housing market. Unfortunately, this government lacks imagination and doesn't prioritise the housing industry despite its ubiquitous reach across the economy.
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Michelle Lawson
Director at Lawson Financial
Stamp Duty as a whole does have a place and the tiered system introduced did make it fairer. Again, there would be a trade off if this was scrapped as we saw with the Covid period which saw house prices rocket due to demand. People were essentially paying a 'Covid Tax' on their purchase which was greater than the Stamp Duty they would have paid. I would like to see the removal of the additional 3% for additional properties as this is another inhibitive tax detrimental to the PRS. There needs to be some innovation and for the Housing sector to be taken seriously in Government rather than it being such a junior post.
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Stephen Perkins
Managing Director at Yellow Brick Mortgages
Stamp duty provides large amounts of revenue into the treasury, so its removal at a time when the government purse is under such strain would be unwise. However, it certainly needs reform. I think all first-time buyers should be exempt irrelevant of their property's purchase price and the thresholds should be raised so more people pay less stamp duty, but the 3% surcharge for additional properties and the high percentages for those buying expensive homes remain. I am not averse to some reform suggestions such as it being paid for by the seller of a property rather than the buyer. Certainly, a stamp-duty holiday or easement could inspire the current housing market.
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Elliott Culley
Director at Switch Mortgage Finance
The removal of stamp duty helped stimulate the market under COVID lockdown, but most prices rose as a result.

Reducing stamp duty when downsizing could help free up some property in the market, especially in the current climate.
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Scott Taylor-Barr
Principal Adviser at Barnsdale Financial Management
I think that a rethink on Stamp Duty Land Tax could be useful. There have been many alternatives suggested over the years and the one that seems to make the most sense, to me at least, is a tax that is levied on the seller rather than the buyer; akin to Capital Gains Tax it would be a tax on the increase in value the property owner has enjoyed over the years, the more your home has increased in value the more tax you pay when you sell it. No system us ever going to be perfect, but it is more a case of choosing the least imperfect option.
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Joe Stallard
Director and Advisor at House and Holiday Home Mortgages
Stamp duty is a huge source of revenue for the government with the power to stabilise the housing market, apparently. But it's shown itself to be a regressive and burdensome tax that affects low to middle-income families the most. One way to improve things would be to look at ways of reducing or removing stamp duty for downsizers. This would help to open up the market for larger properties, which could help families upsize and free up smaller properties for first-time buyers (FTBs). It could also help people in larger properties reduce property size and even reduce their mortgage. Or maybe it could be based on land value or metamorphosed into a transaction tax or just based on value added for the seller.

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Austyn Johnson
Founder at Mortgages For Actors
Scrap it. The same bit of land gets charged tax with every sale/purchase of that property. Maybe only New builds should be taxed as they are on new ground.
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Russell Maggs
Mortgage & Protection Adviser at Maggs Financial Services
The topic of stamp duty arises every six months or so as we get ready for another financial statement/budget from the government... but is it something that really needs changing?

First time buyers that need the help at the lower end of the market don't have to pay it. And for everyone else it's numbers on a spreadsheet and money that comes out of the equity in the current property.

We could have a big political debate about whether stamp duty is still appropriate, but there are much bigger issues politically that I would rather be discussing.

Is affordable housing really affordable? Are we building enough homes? Is the profit housebuilders make fair? To name just a few...