A campaign group is urging the government to abolish the 3% stamp duty increase introduced earlier this year to help alleviate the housing crisis.
The TaxPayers’ Alliance wants the government to halve all stamp duty rates immediately with a view to getting rid of it entirely.
The group said stamp duty was a “disastrous and unfair tax” which will hit tenants the most by driving up rents as landlords look to pass on costs.
In April, a 3% stamp duty increase was introduced as part of the government’s attempt to curb the buy-to-let market and free up property for first-time buyers. The basic rate of tax relief landlords can claim on properties is also set to fall to 20% from April 2017.
Jonathan Isaby, chief Executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “For decades politicians have failed to tackle the root causes of the housing crisis: a chronic lack of supply. What’s more, stamp duty is still punitively high and gimmicky tweaks to the tax system will ultimately end up penalising tenants and increasing rents.
“The new Chancellor should now seize the opportunity to drastically simplify and reduce property taxes as well as liberalise planning restrictions, which prevent huge swathes of land from being built on for no good reason at all.”
The TaxPayers’ Alliance also called for planning restrictions to be reformed by declassifying some green belt land to allow taller, denser construction in urban areas.
It said pressure needs to be taken out of the housing market by making land available for development less rare and less expensive to build on. Declassifying just 5% of the green belt around London would allow the city to expand by almost a sixth.
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