Telegraph:
Opinion: Stamp duty is a tax on mobility and aspiration. It should be cut substantially or abolished
9 August 2017
A cabinet minister, who apparently wishes to remain anonymous, has told the Daily Telegraph that stamp duty must be reformed as it is exacerbating the housing crisis, stopping older homeowners from downsizing. The paper says the intervention follows a report from academics suggesting the tax reduces the rate of house moves by a third, creating a mismatch in the market. Prof Christian Hilber, of the London School of Economics, tells the paper the key message from the research is that stamp duty hampers mobility significantly. "End stamp duty and unleash the economy," demands the Telegraph in an editorial. It is a problem not just for the elderly wanting to downsize, says the Telegraph, but for families looking for a larger home. Countless families are stuck in homes that no longer meet their needs, it adds.
Related publications
‘Transfer Taxes and Household Mobility: Distortion on the Housing or Labor Market?’, Christian A.L. Hilber and Teemu Lyytikäinen, SERC Discussion Paper No.216, June 2017
http://www.spatialeconomics.ac.uk/textonly/SERC/publications/download/sercdp0216.pdf