Ian King, Sky News business presenter, says…
Stamp duty is a rotten tax and, if you want to promote growth, scrapping it would certainly be a good way of doing so. But given that Stamp Duty Land Tax brought in £11.6bn in the last financial year, the government is likely to want to keep it in place.
The differing tax takes to which you refer reflect the fact that house prices are cheaper in the North East than in London.
SDLT is very much a London tax – the capital accounted for 36% of all SDLT paid in 2021-22, the latest year for which figures are available.
Homebuyers in the London borough of Westminster alone paid more SDLT than the whole of the North West of England. I doubt those disparities to which you refer will change unless house prices in London collapse and house prices rocket elsewhere.
You are right to point out the pernicious effects of this.
In some London boroughs, primary schools are starting to close, because parents find they cannot live in the capital and raise a family. They’re moving out – reducing demand for London school places in some areas.
Source: Money blog: What will happen to tax and interest rates under Labour – and how will
