£24 000 stamp duty!!!! I feel ill.

Entertainer

The ignorance in this thread is breathtaking.

Stamp duty is a stealth tax used by Gordon Brown and New Labour because they haven't got the guts to increase income tax (bad experiences in the past you see). The take on stamp duty has risen by more than 400% since Brown became chancellor and the thresholds have naturally not kept pace with house price inflation. Gordon Brown is the most political of chancellors in history, he airbrushes out sensitive news that he thinks will cost votes (like the Budget of 2001 when he announced a 1% rise in NI contributions equivalent to 4% on the basic rate in one hurried, mumbled sentence) and smuggles in stealth taxes that he hopes no one will notice. By and large it works which is why you keep voting them and their wars in.

Ordinary people are now paying huge amounts in SD to buy an average house. The average house price in London is way over the 250K band and most other places are not far behind. Bear in mind if someone buys a £250K+ property they don't own that much equity, they've probably got a huge mortgage on it. They are certainly not rich and have made no gain, no income but have paid a large sum, possibly 5 figures, in tax to walk in through the front door.

cashdaddy

belleooo wrote:

Why? If you've worked hard all your life don't you deserve a nice property without being ripped off by Brown et al? I don't want to turn this into a political argument, and I'm hardly rich myself, but if you've built a successful business through sheer hard work then you deserve to reap the rewards.

This thread has turned out to be quite controversial and very interesting. You back up my point by stating above "If you've worked hard all your life don't you deserve a nice property without being ripped off by Brown et al?".

Indeed, I am not rich, but just an ordinary guy trying to buy something nice for myself and my family. I am a 35yr old engineer that started as a trainee on £30 per week. I have worked hard and don't expect anything in return except a wage. I am not going to win the lottery, so I work lots of overtime and carry out all the money saving tips recommended on this site. Note, I may be comfortably well off, but it is by choice and you get out what you put in. There is no such thing as destiny.

cashdaddy

belleooo wrote:

There's a similar scenario with Inheritance Tax (IHT). Increasing property prices will mean that more and more ordinary people with be faced with possible IHT bills, which were originally targetted at the wealthy, in years to come. Mr Brown must be loving this property boom.

A very good point and you will find many ordinary people on forums asking how they can avoid paying it saying that IHT too is unfair. 10 years ago, not many people understood what it was, and I guess it was something that only the rich would pay. Now, it affects many too, and this is my point about stamp duty. Mr Brown is going to be in no hurry to raise the threshold on IHT or SD when it brings in more and more revenue for the tresury.:T

pawpurrs

I think we shouldnt forget that London is its own little world..........and hoyse prices there are not comparable. Parking space in Mayfair, mayfair is only for the rich!

natwill_3

scheming_gypsy wrote:

so then somebody on 100k a year would take home 20k and somebody on 35k (for example) would take home more?

No its a marginal rate, so your earnings over say 60k would be taxed at 60%.....

silvercar

you work hard, you follow money saving lifestyle. you decide to invest your savings into bricks and you get criticised for having an expensive home. Whose to say someone living in a £100,000 home with loads of savings and investments is not richer.

whambamboo

natwill wrote:

No its a marginal rate, so your earnings over say 60k would be taxed at 60%.....

i'd leave the country. What a stupid idea....

Let's tax the people running businesses and who studied hard to reach the top, and give all the money to teenage mums. Great idea.....

Not.

We do not need more tax. The government is already incapable of spending what it gets, wasting it on boll0cks like 5-a-day coordinators. Leave us alone to spend our own money.

The private sector creates prosperity, the government stifles it.

whambamboo

belleooo wrote:

Why? If you've worked hard all your life don't you deserve a nice property without being ripped off by Brown et al? I don't want to turn this into a political argument, and I'm hardly rich myself, but if you've built a successful business through sheer hard work then you deserve to reap the rewards.

Don't be daft.

We should reward the lazy bums who claim unemployment benefit and then squander it on fruit machines.

Tax the middle class till the pips squeak!

Give all the money to the lazy and workshy so they can spend it on fags and big TVs.

Mrs_pbradley936

Wow this thread has turned really political. It reminds me of a saying I once heard:-

“Anyone who is not a Socialist when he is twenty has got no heart and anyone who is still a Socialist when he is forty has got no head.”

natwill_3

whambamboo wrote:

i'd leave the country. What a stupid idea....

Let's tax the people running businesses and who studied hard to reach the top, and give all the money to teenage mums. Great idea.....

Not.

We do not need more tax. The government is already incapable of spending what it gets, wasting it on boll0cks like 5-a-day coordinators. Leave us alone to spend our own money.

The private sector creates prosperity, the government stifles it.

Alot of the rich did leave the country when this happened, tax exiles!