Budget 05: One in four benefit from stamp duty
Stamp duty changes benefit house buyers.
One in four housing transactions will benefit from the doubling of the stamp duty threshold, according to a senior tax partner at Grant Thornton.
But the chancellor’s pre-election sweetener was quickly watered down, as one in 10 households will also be hit by increases in the inheritance tax ceiling.
Mike Warburton said: ‘6% of households are liable for IHT, but from Inland Revenue figures I’ve calculated that of 38% of registered deaths there is still a spouse living meaning they are IHT exempt, so if you exclude them from the calculation around 10% are getting clobbered.’
‘Some 25% of housing transactions could benefit from Stamp Duty but there is a very regional bias on this as London and the southeast will be virtually unaffected’, added Warburton.