Written by: ROSALIND RENSHAW
Takings from Stamp Duty Land Tax went up 35% in the last year, HMRC has reported.
For the 2013/2014 financial year, the value of SDLT revenue to the Government went up by £2,249m.
In total, SDLT raised £9,273m – way ahead of the £3,108m collected in Stamp Duty on shares. Almost all (70%) of the SDLT revenue was raised on residential transactions (£6,450m – an annual rise of 31%) as opposed to commercial property transactions (£2,823m).
The highest proportion of SDLT came from the London area, where buyers in Kensington & Chelsea paid £444m – 6.9% of the total.
London was followed by the south-east, and then the south-west and east of England, with little to separate them.
The lowest takes from SDLT were all from the northern and midlands regions.
One reason why the take from SDLT was so much higher was because two new rate bands were introduced in 2012/13. A 7% rate came into effect for all residential transactions of over £2m, while a 15% rate was introduced for homes bought by a corporate entity.
In 2013-14, a total of £70m of SDLT revenue was collected at the 15% rate, which was the same as the previous year. However, SDLT raised £1,010m from purchases of residential properties worth more than £2m by individuals – a rise of 26%.
For all property transactions over £1m but below £2m, the tax yield grew by £220m – a rise of 38%.
Receipts in every region of England rose, as they did in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Paula Higgins, chief executive of campaign group the HomeOwners Alliance, said: “These latest figures show just how wrong Stamp Duty is. It was a tax introduced to apply to the few.
“It is now a tax on families and first-time buyers buying homes to live in as they have to save thousands to pay this upfront tax.
“Eric Pickles announced yet another complicated loan scheme at the weekend promising to create a springboard to home ownership.
“But just as first-time buyers take the leap, they stumble on the sky-high hurdle that is Stamp Duty.
“For some reason, the Government doesn’t see any contradiction in their attempts to get people on to the property ladder and heavily taxing them as they clamber on to the first rung.
“These figures show they must be blinded by the sheer amount of money they are raking in. George Osborne is addicted to Stamp Duty and can’t admit to the need for reform.”
