getty stamp duty is the single bill most likely to deter young buyers from buying a home top stories direct to your inbox subscribe invalid email sign up to receive our rundown of the day'sdirect to your inbox when you subscribe we will use the information you provide to send you these newsletters. sometimes they'll include recommendations for other related newsletters or services we offer. our privacy notice explains more about how we use your data, and your rights. you can unsubscribe at any time. property experts are calling for a reform or even abolition of the ‘pernicious’ tax in a bid to help people buy a home. almost three quarters of first-time buyers 72 per cent cited paying the upfront cost as more difficult than raising a deposit 69 per cent or making monthly mortgage payments 34 per cent. and 60 per cent of ftbs say paying no stamp duty would make them more likely to buy their own home, according to yorkshire building society research. saving enough to pay stamp duty adds to the overall difficulty of buying a home andrew mcphillips the tax – paid from already taxed income for simply changing your address – is charged when people buy a home. currently nothing is paid if he property bought is less than £125,000, but two per cent is charged on the portion up to £250,000. five per cent is then charged up to £925,000, 10 per cent up to £1.5m and 12 per cent on anything above that. so a house bought for £275,000 comes with a bill of £3,750 made up of zero per cent on the first £125,000, then two per cent on the next £125,000, equaling £2,500 and five per cent or £1,250 on the final £25,000. now the yorkshire is calling on the chancellor to swap the payment of the tax from the buyer to the seller in tomorrow’s autumn statement. the society estimates such a reform would save first-time buyers in the uk excluding scotland, an average of £3,791, with londoners saving the most at an average of £13,171. but other experts, such as the taxpayers’ alliance would like to see the tax scrapped completely. john o’connell, chief executive of the taxpayers’ alliance, said: “stamp duty is a bad tax which not only distorts the housing market by adding an extra cost on already unmanageably high house prices but also affects labour mobility by preventing people from taking up jobs across the country, worsening our productivity as a nation. brexit: what does it mean for you? wed, july 13, 2016 how will pensions, mortgages & house prices be affected by brexit? play slideshow paul mcgovern 1 of 11 there’s nothing to stop a post-brexit government giving £100m more a week to the nhs but other areas also require funding “as it is now clear that the new reforms introduced by the previous chancellor only worsened the matter with added complexities while only raising half as much money as the treasury predicted, phillip hammond must do the right thing and abolish this pernicious tax in the autumn statement.” almost two in three aspiring homeowners would be more likely to buy if they didn’t have to pay stamp duty, according to the uk’s second largest building society. sixty per cent of aspiring homeowners said paying no stamp duty would make them more likely to move, with 22 per cent saying it would not make a difference and the remaining 18 per cent answering ‘don’t know’. the research showed that 18 per cent of potential first time buyers were not saving anything towards buying a home, and a further 52 per cent saving less than £250 per month. getty more than half first time buyers would be more likely to buy a home if stamp duty was axed the society argues this highlights the significance of stamp duty acting as a barrier to people achieving their homeownership aspirations. it has urged the government to include examining the switch in stamp duty as part of its formal submission on what should be included in mr hammond’s financial plans for the uk. andrew mcphillips, chief economist at yorkshire building society, said: “saving enough to pay stamp duty adds to the overall difficulty of buying a home. “it’s hard enough for buyers to find the right property in the right location without the need to pay additional fees and taxes, given the scale of house price inflation in recent years. “the government’s housing white paper will rightly outline plans to resolve the crisis faced by those unable to buy a home. getty paying stamp duty was more difficult than raising a deposit for 69% of respondents “but these will be long-term ambitions and measures to ease the problems in the short-term, including reforming stamp duty, should form part of the government’s strategy. “reducing any of the costs such as stamp duty for first time buyers and those moving up the ladder would help to make homes more affordable for many, enabling more people to realise their homeownership aspirations.” according to another new study, the chancellor needs to cut the housing tax to stop the north continuing to suffer a “brain drain” as high-skilled british workers leave the region in their thousands. getty chancellor phillip hammond has been called to scrap the 'pernicious' tax
one in ten children have a mental health problem - helping them must remain top of the agenda