Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has vowed the Tories would abolish stamp duty if her party won the next election.
In her leader’s speech at Conservative party conference,she described stamp duty as a ‘bad tax’.
She added: ‘As the Conservative party,we know who our people are. They are people who work hard,they are the people who play hard,they are the people who understand the importance of putting down roots.
‘They are the people who make sacrifices today for a better life.
‘They are also people who want to own their own home,’ she says. ‘But there is a barrier – the tax you have to pay – stamp duty.
‘Stamp duty is a bad tax,an un-conservative tax.
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Badenoch described the tax as ‘un-conservative’ (Picture: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)The policy is one of many announcements unveiled Mrs Badenoch during her speech on the final day of the conference in Manchester.They included scrapping Labour’s tax rises on school fees,farms and family businesses.
When did stamp duty start?
Stamp Duty is a tax levied on purchase transactions,first introduced in1694.The policy was put into action to pay towards the war against France,and was originally intended to last for four years.However,it was so successful in generating money that the policy continues to this day (though in a different form).
Who introduced stamp duty?
Stamp Duty was originally introduced by William III and Mary II. The levee originally enforced by the monarchy can be seen today as a series of Stamp Acts.The modern UK Stamp Duty that Badenoch discusses is actually called the Stamp Duty Land Tax.In 2003,Tony Blair’s government made the shift from document-based Stamp Duty to this transaction-based,progressive tax system,designed to make property ownership more equitable and reflect true property values.Significant changes have been made to the policy since this shift,however all governments since Blair’s have benefited from the tax.
Stamp duty was intended to make housing more equitable (Picture: Getty Images)
What would Badenoch’s change mean?
Stamp duty land tax brought in an estimated £13.9 billion in the last financial year,but a large proportion of this is from additional homes and other buildings.The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has estimated that abolishing stamp duty on primary residences will cost around £4.5 billion.But,claiming that the Chancellor Rachel Reeves was planning a significant increase in stamp duty,the Conservatives said they had ‘cautiously’ estimated that the policy would cost £9 billion.Mrs Badenoch insisted she could meet this promise while sticking to her new ‘golden rule’,saying this was the ‘fiscally prudent’ thing to do.Her address brought to a close a conference that had been overshadowed by questions about her leadership and the threat from Reform UK.
The conference included many questions about the potential threat of Reform UK (Picture: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)The day before her speech,Nigel Farage’s party announced 20 councillors had defected from the Tories,while a poll published by More in Common on Wednesday showed the Conservatives continue to languish in third place.
