The government collected £9.3 billion in stamp duty in the 2013/14 tax year, up from £6.9 billion the year before – a rise of 35 per cent.
The figures, released in HMRC’s latest Tax and National Insurance Contributions statistics, are largely due to climbing house prices, which have pushed most houses above the tax threshold.
Anita Monteith, from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, comments:
“Where the average home-buyer in the nineties would have been exempt from stamp duty, now most people find they pay at least one per cent – up to £2,500 in addition to the purchase price.
“For many struggling to get on the property ladder, this tax represents an additional challenge to overcome.
“The bands for paying Stamp Duty have not kept up with rising house prices, which means more houses than ever are affected. As these bands have not been modified, HMRC collected £2.4 billion more in stamp duty this year than in 2012-2013, and we expect this number will continue to increase.”
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