| Abolishing stamp duty 16:50 - Oct 8 with 2643 views | townblue |
Just a straight up bribe for votes? |  | | |  |
| Abolishing stamp duty on 20:37 - Oct 8 with 744 views | BlueForYou |
| Abolishing stamp duty on 18:31 - Oct 8 by BrandonsBlues |
the only policy the tories ever has is housing. Covid, give freebies to keep the housing market moving. now out of power abolish stamp duty for main homes only. They have nothing else. |
They actually announced thirteen policy pledges during the conference. |  | | |
| Abolishing stamp duty on 21:17 - Oct 8 with 704 views | Swansea_Blue |
| Abolishing stamp duty on 20:37 - Oct 8 by BlueForYou |
They actually announced thirteen policy pledges during the conference. |
Which are? I’ve had a quick search and can find:
1. Axe stamp duty (cost of £10BN/yr to the public purse)
2. Reversing Labour tax increases on inheritance tax on family farms (cost of c. £115M/yr) and VAT on private school fees (cost of c. £1.7BN).
3. Undo Labour’s workers’ rights reforms (which include the right to fair treatment immediately from the start of employment and, from Google AI “ending exploitative zero-hours contracts by offering guaranteed hours, strengthening trade union rights to access workplaces, implementing stronger protections against sexual harassment, and establishing a Fair Work Agency to better enforce employment law” (cost saving of £5BN).
4. Removing the democratic right to strike from doctors (then who’s next?)
5. Introduction of an undefined, new ‘golden economic rule’
6. A £5,000 tax break to workers in their first job, directed into a savings account (no strings attached)
7. Abolishing business rates for high street shops (at a cost of £4BN per year)
8. Review exemptions for the household benefit cap
9. Reducing the VAT subsidy for Motability (a programme that supports disabled people in leading adapted vehicles)
10. Something about changing obligations for job-seekers - I’m not sure on the details
11. ?
12. ?
13. ?
As a lot of those proposals are cost negative, it looks like they’ll be funded by a huge round of austerity to the tune of £47BN cuts PEAR YEAR. For reference, Osborne cut from between £6BN to £12BN per year during his austerity programme that is widely acknowledged as leading to the collapse in public service levels. (I only did a quick search, so haven’t double checked any figures).
If those proposals and figures are right, anyone with an economic bent would question the realism of these proposals and especially the promised savings. Anyone with a moral compass would question our desire for some of the proposals too. [Post edited 8 Oct 21:24]
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| Abolishing stamp duty on 22:33 - Oct 8 with 653 views | ZapatasMoustache |
| Abolishing stamp duty on 17:17 - Oct 8 by homer_123 |
Relatively wealthy? Err, not really.
In April 2025 you buy a house for £295,000. The SDLT you owe will be calculated as follows:
0% on the first £125,000 = £0
2% on the second £125,000 = £2,500
5% on the final £45,000 = £2,250
total SDLT = £4,750
Average UK house price as of April 2025: £271,000
First time buyers up to £425k pay no duty. [Post edited 8 Oct 17:33]
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Hate to break it to you but in this sh1tty economy that is very much 'relatively wealthy' |  | | |
| Abolishing stamp duty on 22:40 - Oct 8 with 643 views | buoyant |
She/they can say what they want because they'll be nowhere near a majority at the next GE, so it's all a load of sack shining nonsense this time around. |  |
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| Abolishing stamp duty on 22:41 - Oct 8 with 640 views | bournemouthblue |
with the abolition of stamp duty and business rates, roughly how many Civil Service jobs are they planning to cut?
A personal favourite of the Tories is to shrink the state
I can only assume cuts to the Civil Service has directly led to the massive backlog of asylum claims they have now as an example |  |
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| Abolishing stamp duty on 22:45 - Oct 8 with 631 views | buoyant |
| Abolishing stamp duty on 22:41 - Oct 8 by bournemouthblue |
with the abolition of stamp duty and business rates, roughly how many Civil Service jobs are they planning to cut?
A personal favourite of the Tories is to shrink the state
I can only assume cuts to the Civil Service has directly led to the massive backlog of asylum claims they have now as an example |
Apologies. Fat fingered the wrong arrow! | |
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| Abolishing stamp duty on 23:32 - Oct 8 with 585 views | townblue |
| Abolishing stamp duty on 18:49 - Oct 8 by BanksterDebtSlave |
So the asking price for a house is likely to go up by the corresponding amount surely meaning nobody wins but we all lose. |
Slightly different in the sense it's easier to stick a few grand on a mortgage than to find the cash up front, but yeah pretty much. | | | |
| Abolishing stamp duty on 00:21 - Oct 9 with 556 views | mutters |
Thats what all manifestos are unfortunately |  |
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| Abolishing stamp duty on 08:08 - Oct 9 with 475 views | BloomBlue |
There should never be stamp duty on buying your main property. We all need to live somewhere, having to pay a tax for that basic right is wrong.
Yes, stamp duty on a 2nd, 3rd, 4th etc property makes sense as that is targeting the 'better off' but not your main residence. |  | | |
| Abolishing stamp duty on 08:30 - Oct 9 with 446 views | DJR |
All measures in recent years supposedly designed to make acquiring a property easier only seem to end up boosting the market and pushing up prices.
The other thing to point out is that there is often a London and the south east slant on affordability, and according to an ONS report from earlier this year there were 251 local authorities in England and Wales (74.7%) that contained at least one local area with an affordability ratio of five or below.
Of course, that doesn't necessarily help in the remaining 25% but the answer to that is the construction of more housing units not stamp duty cuts. [Post edited 9 Oct 8:37]
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| Abolishing stamp duty on 09:10 - Oct 9 with 417 views | soupytwist |
| Abolishing stamp duty on 21:17 - Oct 8 by Swansea_Blue |
Which are? I’ve had a quick search and can find:
1. Axe stamp duty (cost of £10BN/yr to the public purse)
2. Reversing Labour tax increases on inheritance tax on family farms (cost of c. £115M/yr) and VAT on private school fees (cost of c. £1.7BN).
3. Undo Labour’s workers’ rights reforms (which include the right to fair treatment immediately from the start of employment and, from Google AI “ending exploitative zero-hours contracts by offering guaranteed hours, strengthening trade union rights to access workplaces, implementing stronger protections against sexual harassment, and establishing a Fair Work Agency to better enforce employment law” (cost saving of £5BN).
4. Removing the democratic right to strike from doctors (then who’s next?)
5. Introduction of an undefined, new ‘golden economic rule’
6. A £5,000 tax break to workers in their first job, directed into a savings account (no strings attached)
7. Abolishing business rates for high street shops (at a cost of £4BN per year)
8. Review exemptions for the household benefit cap
9. Reducing the VAT subsidy for Motability (a programme that supports disabled people in leading adapted vehicles)
10. Something about changing obligations for job-seekers - I’m not sure on the details
11. ?
12. ?
13. ?
As a lot of those proposals are cost negative, it looks like they’ll be funded by a huge round of austerity to the tune of £47BN cuts PEAR YEAR. For reference, Osborne cut from between £6BN to £12BN per year during his austerity programme that is widely acknowledged as leading to the collapse in public service levels. (I only did a quick search, so haven’t double checked any figures).
If those proposals and figures are right, anyone with an economic bent would question the realism of these proposals and especially the promised savings. Anyone with a moral compass would question our desire for some of the proposals too. [Post edited 8 Oct 21:24]
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And if any of those hard-working normal people scraping together the funds to send their children to private schools think that their bills will reduce by the same amount as the cut in VAT on private school fees they're likely to be disappointed. |  | | |
| Abolishing stamp duty on 09:16 - Oct 9 with 398 views | bluearmy4838 |
Easy to say this when there's feck all chance of being elected.
The Monster Raving Loony party proposed painting 50% of Grey squirrels red in their manifesto once. FWIW that's a hard agree from me. |  | | |
| Abolishing stamp duty on 09:22 - Oct 9 with 388 views | Pinewoodblue |
| Abolishing stamp duty on 09:16 - Oct 9 by bluearmy4838 |
Easy to say this when there's feck all chance of being elected.
The Monster Raving Loony party proposed painting 50% of Grey squirrels red in their manifesto once. FWIW that's a hard agree from me. |
Deleted wrong thread [Post edited 9 Oct 9:37]
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| Abolishing stamp duty on 09:36 - Oct 9 with 355 views | MattinLondon |
| Abolishing stamp duty on 00:21 - Oct 9 by mutters |
Thats what all manifestos are unfortunately |
Unfortunately I agree with you and it seems ridiculous to me that the Tories can promise to do things when the next election is so far away. Well not unless they secretly have faith that Labour will stabilise the economy (after the Tories tanked it deliberately) and then stroll in to give tax cuts.
Manifestos and PMQs are just pointless exercises all designed to fit within a Parliamentary life term. Everything is on the short term and prone to change if a new government wins power.
Democracy, in its present form on this country, is failing. |  | | |
| Abolishing stamp duty on 10:30 - Oct 9 with 318 views | J2BLUE |
| Abolishing stamp duty on 20:16 - Oct 8 by DJR |
From John Crace in the Guardian.
Finally, we got to the economy. There would be an exciting new golden rule that would enable everyone to sleep well at night. A golden rule that she promptly broke within a couple of minutes by promising to abolish stamp duty. Cue a spontaneous orgasm within the hall. The Tories like nothing more than an unfunded tax cut. It’s what keeps them going. Even if it’s a tax cut that’s never going to happen because the Conservatives are now little more than a death cult. Stand by for whoever is Tory leader this time next year to get rid of income tax. And whoever is leader the year after to do away with VAT. It’s all meaningless. |
I am expecting the really big one to be inheritance tax.
One last roll of the dice to try and get the older vote out in force and the younger vote thinking about their inheritance. Combine that with some made up rumours about Labour scrapping the tax free threshold and it could be a good one. |  |
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| Abolishing stamp duty on 10:44 - Oct 9 with 305 views | mellowblue |
obviously a bribe and some attempt to get positive vibes. A bit like trying to resuscitate a 2 year old corpse.
However stamp duty is a deterrent to people downsizing in older age, an unnecessary extra cost if you are having to move because of job change or need a bigger house because you want to start a family, it is not the most efficent tax. A tax on aspiration. And it is of course not equitable due to house price differences through out the country. And it does bring in a good chunk of money.
On the other hand abolish it and it will stimulate the market and push the prices up anyway, so who gains then? Only the seller of a second home who does not want to replace it with another house. |  | | |
| Abolishing stamp duty on 11:16 - Oct 9 with 277 views | Radlett_blue |
| Abolishing stamp duty on 10:30 - Oct 9 by J2BLUE |
I am expecting the really big one to be inheritance tax.
One last roll of the dice to try and get the older vote out in force and the younger vote thinking about their inheritance. Combine that with some made up rumours about Labour scrapping the tax free threshold and it could be a good one. |
The Tories have long talked about a long term aim of abolishing inheritance tax. It raised about £8bn a year as it is quite easy to avoid. The housing price boom in the South East has dragged many more estates into it, but I don't have a problem with it & the question again is from where will you replace the revenue?
I think all the Tories are doing is throwing a few crumbs to their natural supporters to try to stem the flow of voters to Reform. |  |
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| Abolishing stamp duty on 11:21 - Oct 9 with 269 views | soupytwist |
| Abolishing stamp duty on 10:44 - Oct 9 by mellowblue |
obviously a bribe and some attempt to get positive vibes. A bit like trying to resuscitate a 2 year old corpse.
However stamp duty is a deterrent to people downsizing in older age, an unnecessary extra cost if you are having to move because of job change or need a bigger house because you want to start a family, it is not the most efficent tax. A tax on aspiration. And it is of course not equitable due to house price differences through out the country. And it does bring in a good chunk of money.
On the other hand abolish it and it will stimulate the market and push the prices up anyway, so who gains then? Only the seller of a second home who does not want to replace it with another house. |
Abolishing stamp duty is only part of what could be a substantial reform of the way we tax housing, which include council tax.
There are some interesting ideas in this article - https://taxpolicy.org.uk/2024/06/09/stamp_duty_terrible_how_to_abolish/
And this (shorter) one covers some of the same ground - https://ifs.org.uk/articles/stamping-stamp-duty-would-free-empty-nesters-fly-the | | | |
| Abolishing stamp duty on 11:24 - Oct 9 with 264 views | OldFart71 |
I personally think that Badenoch has a lot about her. Sadly for the Tories that won't make any difference.
I don't think they are finished as a party, but it will be one hell of a long haul back.
Again a personal view but I see no reason for whatever party stating what they may do in power when an election is so far away.
As for bribing people to vote for them don't all parties do the same and when it comes to actually carrying out what they say it's a different story,
No matter what colour the government a majority don't serve the people, they serve themselves.
If you think that sounds sceptical about how I view politics you are right.
I have been through enough different governments to see how their ministers come out the other end. Whether it's by securing a nice little boardroom job or bringing in policies to suit their own circumstances or doing seminars in America for £250,000 a time. | | | |
| Abolishing stamp duty on 11:38 - Oct 9 with 241 views | Pinewoodblue |
| Abolishing stamp duty on 10:30 - Oct 9 by J2BLUE |
I am expecting the really big one to be inheritance tax.
One last roll of the dice to try and get the older vote out in force and the younger vote thinking about their inheritance. Combine that with some made up rumours about Labour scrapping the tax free threshold and it could be a good one. |
You could probably make a case for an intermediate band between zero & 40%. | |
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| Abolishing stamp duty on 12:05 - Oct 9 with 206 views | Radlett_blue |
Thanks. There's some really good stuff in there.
Stamp duty is a bonkers tax, but the problem is always what you do to replace the revenue, while abolishing it will create another surge in house prices (which the Tories seem to like, but I don't) . The same goes for Council Tax - the successor to rates after the ill-fated Community Charge or Poll Tax. No one is going to bring that back.
The fairest tax is undoubtedly income tax, as it's directly related to ability to pay. So why not get rid of Council Tax & replace it with a local income tax, which was proposed by the Liberals years ago? | |
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| Abolishing stamp duty on 12:53 - Oct 9 with 170 views | Rimsy |
Just a soundbite. Easy to make these daft promises when you're not in power. They all do it. |  |
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| Abolishing stamp duty on 12:55 - Oct 9 with 170 views | vinceg |
| Abolishing stamp duty on 17:17 - Oct 8 by homer_123 |
Relatively wealthy? Err, not really.
In April 2025 you buy a house for £295,000. The SDLT you owe will be calculated as follows:
0% on the first £125,000 = £0
2% on the second £125,000 = £2,500
5% on the final £45,000 = £2,250
total SDLT = £4,750
Average UK house price as of April 2025: £271,000
First time buyers up to £425k pay no duty. [Post edited 8 Oct 17:33]
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Not quite right (according to the BBC). From 1st April the government has reduced the exemption for first time buyers from 425k to 300k.
The 2% rate from 125k-250k was introduced from 1st April, prior to that the 0% limit went up to 250k. So using your example house price of 295k, prior to 1st April, you'd have paid £2,250 SDLT.
So the new arrangements make it more expensive for anyone looking to buy a modest home.
Abolishing stamp duty is desperate and cynical, but reversing the governments April changes would be a bit more conservative, pardon the pun. |  | | |
| Abolishing stamp duty on 13:27 - Oct 9 with 147 views | yorkshireblue |
Whilst everyone will have different views on it as a standalone policy, the timing of the accounement feels to me it could cause issues.
People who are thinking of moving in 2028/29 will likely hold off until the election results in case this becomes government policy. |  | | |
| Abolishing stamp duty on 14:46 - Oct 9 with 109 views | Radlett_blue |
| Abolishing stamp duty on 13:27 - Oct 9 by yorkshireblue |
Whilst everyone will have different views on it as a standalone policy, the timing of the accounement feels to me it could cause issues.
People who are thinking of moving in 2028/29 will likely hold off until the election results in case this becomes government policy. |
Given the Tories are polling so badly and it could be nearly 4 years until the next General election, I doubt many will hold off a purchase in the hope that the Tories get in and keep their promise. | |
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