Suspension of stamp duty 'won't work'

Darling: backd into a corner

A stamp duty holiday will not work in boosting the property market, a leading tax adviser has said.

According to Mike Warburton, Grant Thornton’s senior tax partner, the Tories’ suspension of stamp duty for nine months in 1991 failed in what it was designed to achieve.

‘It [suspension of stamp duty] didn’t do any good then and it won’t do any good now,’ he said.
Earlier this week, chancellor Alistair Darling rejected a third request for a meeting with estate agents over proposals to lift the tax, refusing to be pushed on the issue.

The uncertainty also continues for homebuyers, who are holding off purchasing property until a decision has been reached.

The Treasury meanwhile had declined, at the time Accountancy Age went to press, to clarify its intentions or explicitly disavow the mooted plans.

Warburton also believes continuing conjecture over the chancellor’s handling of proposed stamp duty suspension is unwarranted. He said Darling had got himself trapped into a corner when questioned about the state of the housing market.

‘I feel sorry for the chancellor because he was trapped. The same thing happened with petrol duty. I think he should have said no comment. The comment he made opened up the possibility…he should have said that this was something he wasn’t in a position to comment on,’ he said.