TORY leader Kemi Badenoch today channels her idol Margaret Thatcher by calling her pledge to scrap stamp duty the “Chance to Buy”.
She likened her plan to the former PM’s “Right to Buy” scheme, which let council tenants purchase their homes at a discount.
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Today marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Mrs Thatcher, Britain’s first female PM.
Writing in The Sun, Ms Badenoch described stamp duty as “one of the worst taxes”.
She called it a “trap” keeping “young people in their parents’ spare bedroom and pensioners in homes too big for them”.
Scrapping it would save £15,000 on a £500,000 home, rising to £43,750 on a £1million property.
The policy applies to main homes, not benefitting landlords or second-home buyers.
Axing the tax would cost the Treasury £4.5billion now, climbing to £9billion after the next election as house prices rise.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves is expected to unleash a tax-raising bonanza at next month’s Budget as she scrambles to plug a black hole of up to £50billion.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies has urged her to double council tax on the top two property bands to raise £4.4billion.
It also called for reforms to inheritance tax, scrapping the extra £175,000 allowance used to pass on a main home tax-free, raising around £6billion.
But it warned the Chancellor against imposing an annual wealth tax.
‘Duty on homes is a trap’
IN a crowded field, stamp duty must be one of the worst taxes.
It traps young people in their parents’ spare bedroom, growing families in homes too small, and pensioners in homes too big for them.
It’s baffling we have created a tax that makes our housing market less accessible and actively harms our economy.
Last week, I vowed a future Conservative government will scrap stamp duty, as I believe no one should be penalised for buying their dream home.
Twenty-five years ago, another Conservative Party leader held a similar belief.
With her “Right to Buy” policy, Margaret Thatcher opened up the ambition of home ownership for millions of Brits.
It was a key plank of Conservative economic policy that would rescue our country from years of decline under Labour and the trade unions.
This Conservative Party leader knows she’s going to have to do the same.
I have a plan, a great team around me and the backbone to do what’s necessary.
And it starts with the “Chance to Buy” — abolishing stamp duty.
A new homes policy for a new age.
