“Abolish stamp duty,” PwC tells Osborne
Chancellor should reduce tax rates and introduce a wider tax base as part of plans to stimulate growth, economists say
STAMP DUTY MUST BE ABOLISHED as part of a new strategy to return Britain to growth, economists have told the chancellor.
Removing the “inefficient” tax and increasing expenditure on infrastructure are among proposals put forward by PwC’s Andrew Sentance.
His views are echoed by the director at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, Paul Johnson, as both he and Sentance seek a policy rethink by the chancellor (pictured).
Johnson called for planning schemes to be reformed and branded stamp duty as “among the most inefficient taxes we have” in an opinion piece appearing in the Telegraph this week.
Sentance emphasised in his own article, also to appear in the publication, the need for “longer-term reform”, including “cutting tax rates by spreading the tax base and simplifying the tax structure”.
George Osborne will receive some slightly better news this week, with the Office for National Statistics expected to state the economy shrank 0.5% in the last quarter, rather than the 0.7% originally announced.
However, previous chancellor Alistair Darling wrote in an open letter to Osborne that he and the Bank of England “seemed to have given up on growth” and urged his successor to engage in “major spending projects”, including investment in homes, power stations, railways and a third runway at Heathrow Airport.