Britons charged £3,735 stamp duty per property

Wednesday, 06 September 2006 12:00

Rising house prices mean the average Briton now pays £3,735 in stamp duty land tax every time they move home.

Collectively, UK residents are now shelling out £1 billion every three months in stamp duty, according to figures from Portman Building Society.

The amount of stamp duty the government received in the three months to July was a massive 30 per cent higher than in the first three months of 2006, Portman calculates, with the amount paid per property increasing six per cent.

"Stamp duty continues to be a deeply unfair tax to all who pay it," said Matthew Wyles of Portman.

"The burden of this tax will continue to increase unless the government undertakes a radical alteration to its policy in this area and abandons its current strategy of making the occasional cosmetic tweak to the threshold to keep criticism at bay."

With some exceptions, stamp duty is paid on properties worth more than £125,000 at a rate of one per cent.

It trebles on houses costing more than £250,000 and purchasers pay four per cent on properties worth more than £500,000.

Without exception all properties worth more than £150,000 incur stamp duty land tax when sold.

The nil-rate has increased by £65,000 in the last two years - but theses rises have not fully taken account of soaring house prices in the last ten years.

"Whilst the threshold increases have been assured by the government to help first-time buyers they seem to have had little effect," Mr Wyles said.

"The average first time buyer property now costs £147,868 (over £22,000 more than the new threshold level) and whilst people may be able to buy their first homes for below the threshold in certain areas of the country, the change offers little or no relief to those who want to get on the property ladder in London or the south."

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