Changes in the threshold for stamp duty have failed to stop the inroads made by the tax, a new study by a leading mortgage lender reveals.
In the nine months following last year's rise in the exemption threshold, British homeowners together paid almost £60 million more in stamp duty than in the same period before April, when the change was announced, research by Portman Building Society shows.
Although the government raised the threshold to £120,000, Portman says the change made minimal impact at a time of rising house prices, when the average property stands close to £200,000 and the typical first-time buyer purchase amounts to £146,267.
Matthew Wyles, group development director at Portman Building Society, criticised the lifting of the threshold as a "purely cosmetic exercise".
"Stamp duty is no more than a form of advance capital gains tax - paid long before buyers have enjoyed any of the financial benefits achievable from home ownership," he commented.
Mr Wyles suggested the government should shift the levy onto sellers in order to "liberate first-time buyers from this unjust tax".
Portman's figures indicate that British homeowners are now paying an average of £3,459 in stamp duty: a nine per cent increase on the figure of £3,184 recorded before the change.
Liberate first-time buyers from stamp duty, mortgage lender says
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Liberate first-time buyers from stamp duty, mortgage lender says
Mon, 13 Mar 2006
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