On Saturday I was joined by several TaxPayers' Alliance supporters when we held the Cardiff leg of our ‘Stamp Out Stamp Duty’ campaign to inform local taxpayers how this particular tax affects them. Many people I spoke to agreed that Stamp Duty is a horrible tax and discourages individual as well as overall economic growth.
Mr Nichols from Merthyr Tydfil pointed various areas of Wales which have now lost the Disadvantaged Areas Reduction (DAR) which encouraged the purchasing of homes within economically deprived areas:
‘Young families in Merthyr who once wanted to make something of themselves and get on the housing ladder, now don’t have the chance. It’s hard enough to gather together a deposit for a house never mind the extra needed for Stamp Duty, it’s just going to lead to more young families renting’.
Gareth Alison of the property website MyHouseMove.co.uk added:
‘By supporting the 'Stamp Out Stamp Duty' campaign, we would very quickly see much more activity in the housing market with many more potential buyers taking their first step onto the property ladder.’
One of the most harrowing stories of the day came from Miss Davies from Cardiff, who with her partner told us:
‘Some people don’t understand Stamp Duty. We bought a house last year and simply didn’t have the extra money needed for Stamp Duty so we included the cost of it in our mortgage. Instead of paying what would have cost us just over £2,000 is going to cost a lot more as we now owe interest on even penny we’ve borrowed’
It was clear from most people spoken to that they were especially upset with this punitive tax. It was quite evident that those in the Welsh Capital would like to see a reduction if not a complete scrapping of Stamp Duty.
Go to StampOutStampDuty.org and write to your MP. It only takes 30 seconds to make a difference.
