Rishi Sunak is coming under increasing pressure to scrap stamp duty altogether, along with council tax, and replace both charges with a national property tax instead.

Charity Fairer Share is arguing the chancellor should abolish both taxes, and replace them with a new tax for people who own property.

The charity has proposed a replacement proportional property tax, consisting of a simple rate of 0.48% on the current value of the property.

Some Tory MPs are also pushing to reform stamp duty, mainly because it deters people from moving home.

Conservative MP Kevin Hollinrake, also chairman of Hunters, believes that council tax and stamp duty should be replaced with ‘a proportional property tax (PPT) which would tax all homes at exactly the same rate based on up-to-date property values’.

He said: “These taxes are unfair, complicated and block aspiration. Unfair because the poorest find themselves hit hardest. ‘Complicated because they are difficult to understand and command an intricate web of bureaucracy to administer.

“And they hinder aspiration by taxing property transactions and discouraging people from moving home.”

The current stamp duty holiday is due to end at the end of March this year.

Fairer Share’s petition for a PPT this morning exceeded the 100,000 threshold it needs to be considered for debate in Parliament.

via Property Industry Eye