Stamp Duty should be at the Top of the Tax Cut List
29 February 2024
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Economics
IEA Research feature in The Yorkshire Times
29 February 2024
In the Media
Housing and Planning
Tom Clougherty writes for The Times
IEA Executive Director Tom Clougherty has written for The Times previewing the upcoming Budget.
Tom wrote:
“The biggest regulatory problems stem from our absurd land use planning regime. From houses, factories and labs to roads, tunnels and power stations, planning rules — and the special interests they empower — make it hard to build anything, anywhere in a timely fashion.
“Fixing these problems would be the work of years of careful, cross-departmental government. There is little the chancellor could do at the upcoming budget to change things.
“The tax front is more promising…
“If the chancellor has fiscal headroom for significant tax cuts, stamp duties should be top of the list. Stamp duty on shares could be eliminated easily. I doubt it would cost the exchequer a penny, once dynamic effects (such as higher share prices and a lower cost of capital) took effect. The big prize, though, is stamp duty land tax. Abolishing it on residential property would cost about £9 billion on paper — less once the economic benefits of a better-functioning housing market were realised — but could have an enormous positive impact.”
Read Tom’s full piece here.
Tom wrote:
“The biggest regulatory problems stem from our absurd land use planning regime. From houses, factories and labs to roads, tunnels and power stations, planning rules — and the special interests they empower — make it hard to build anything, anywhere in a timely fashion.
“Fixing these problems would be the work of years of careful, cross-departmental government. There is little the chancellor could do at the upcoming budget to change things.
“The tax front is more promising…
“If the chancellor has fiscal headroom for significant tax cuts, stamp duties should be top of the list. Stamp duty on shares could be eliminated easily. I doubt it would cost the exchequer a penny, once dynamic effects (such as higher share prices and a lower cost of capital) took effect. The big prize, though, is stamp duty land tax. Abolishing it on residential property would cost about £9 billion on paper — less once the economic benefits of a better-functioning housing market were realised — but could have an enormous positive impact.”
Read Tom’s full piece here.
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