We estimate the effect of the UK Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) ? a transfer tax on the purchase price of property or land ? on different types of household mobility using micro data. Exploiting a discontinuity in the tax schedule, we isolate the impact of the tax from other determinants of mobility. We compare homeowners with self-assessed house values on either sides of a cut-off value where the tax rate jumps from 1 to 3 percent. We find that a higher SDLT has a strong negative impact on housing-related and short distance moves but does not adversely affect job-induced or long distance mobility. Overall, our results suggest that transfer taxes may mainly distort housing rather than labor markets. ? 2017 Elsevier Inc.

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1 September 2017

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Journal of Urban Economics 101, pp.57-73, 2017

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DOI: 10.1016/j.jue.2017.06.002

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0094119017300542

This Journal article is published under the centre's Urban programme.