The bottom line is that the Gret British public will be taxed £Xbn per year in order to, hopefully spend £X-y bn per year. A cut in Stamp Duty will mean that the government will either have less to spend (on hospitals, education, defence, and other public goods) or it will have to incrase its fiscal revenue from somewhere else.
Whilst I am not a fan of paying tax, as an accountant, I do understand how fiscal finance works. Whislt Stamp Duty may be seen as a somewhat arbitary tax, it is one that you can avoid by not buying a house over the threshold or not moving house. Additionally, it's a tax that I'd expect to pay only three or four times in my entire life.
The tax that REALLY annoys me is the tax levied on fuel. This not only harms ordinary people trying to get about their daily life, but it also hurts British industry as a whole as it makes manufacturing and transport of British goods more expensive and thus decreases the country's overall competitiveness. |