The current high level of Stamp Duty is both unfair and counterproductive, all it has succeeded in doing is “killing the goose that lays the golden egg”. George Osborne must surely see that his revenue stream is reduced by these swingeing charges and that hoards of overseas buyers have disappeared in favour of better options elsewhere in the world.  As a UK citizen to be asked to pay an “eye watering” minimum of £140,000 in tax,  just to be able to buy at £2,000,001, is ridiculous. Especially as in London this amount is regularly paid for no more than an average home. Overseas companies pay the greater amount of 15% for those who wish to purchase here.

This has created is a huge divide and succeeded in wrecking the value of the larger, mansion style homes at £10m +, as well as forming a bottleneck at the lower end of the market with mass purchasers who instead of moving home and paying 7% SDLT  have decided to buy investment properties, paying less Stamp and retaining these as investments. Naturally once bought for rental/children etc, these homes do not return to the market regularly and therefore the entire lower end, up to £2,000,000, has become inundated with buyers and no stock to sell, which in turn pushes up prices.

Mr Osborne cut Stamp Duty, let the property market free flow and see your coffers fill with money.

As for Mansion Tax, don’t get me started. I don’t disagree that people in the larger/more expensive homes should probably pay a bit more property tax than the rest of us, so make more bands for Council Tax by adding small additional increments and see the income increase without hounding of the wealthier of society. The politics of envy is unpleasant in the extreme and Mansion Tax will only succeed in driving away those at the upper echelons who keep the economic wheels of the UK turning. It will do nothing for confidence in the country, and it will surely see the demise of the upper end property market.  For every action is a re-action, so scrap it before it’s too late. It’s not rocket science.

Maybe I’m biased, in all likelihood I am, but I am a small business owner who has now been established for almost 24 years. From the heart, I can tell you that it has not always been easy, there have been times when I wondered why I was still doing this  and would it not have been easier to work for someone else where I may have even earned more!! So would it not make sense for small businesses to have some tax breaks, even in the early years. How about some incentive to employ people? Or Business Rates holidays? Or NI allowance? Even a little monetary nod to the fact that we are one of the largest employers in the UK?  So Mr O if you are listening give a shout out to all those of us that work hard, run small workplaces, employ people, pay all the same taxes as the larger corporations and still hope to make a profit at the end of the year.  Many more would succeed with just a little help and some further encouragement.

Vivienne Harris, Founder and Managing Director, Heathgate