Time to change Stamp Duty Levels?

CLAPTON

Graham_Devon wrote: »

I didn't say there was.

I said that's what was needed.

Removing stamp duty and not replacing it anywhere else in the system is hardly going to help matters for anyone bar property owners and those looking to buy property.

are not property owners the majority of the people?

wotsthat

Graham_Devon wrote: »

No word of a lie, but a colleague has to go a different route home now as the main road is so bad with litterally metres of the road crumbling away, her classic mini (not lowered) scrapes the remaining tarmac that hasn't crumbled and juts up in the road. This isn't a back road, it's a main A route and it's been deteriorating for months. She can get over speed humps out of here fine. The roads are that bad in places due to serious underinvestment over the past 2-3 years.

Complain to the council. In January 2014 Devon County Council spent £38m on invoices over £500. Why didn't they prioritise the road repair?

You seem to think that paying more tax might be a solution but if our politicians are just really terrible at prioritsing spending that might just increase the scale of inefficiency.

I reckon it's possible to pay less tax and drive on decent roads to be honest. Some grown up discussions needed rather than the emotive 'less tax = closure of a respite centre' kneejerk.

As an aside I do quite a bit of cycling. A few people at my club have suggested that some of the websites that report potholes to councils lead to swift repairs. Why? Because if no-one complains the council can pretend the road is fine. Once there has been a complaint the council then becomes more liable for future claims of damage and accidents.

CLAPTON

In my area there is a new development of houses.
The infrastructure levy burden on the people buying the new houses is to be used for more speed humps.
most local people would prefer the potholes to be fixed.

AndyGuil

Get rid of it. It is a silly tax that just stops people moving house.

Graham_Devon

wotsthat wrote: »

Complain to the council. In January 2014 Devon County Council spent £38m on invoices over £500. Why didn't they prioritise the road repair?

You seem to think that paying more tax might be a solution but if our politicians are just really terrible at prioritsing spending that might just increase the scale of inefficiency.

I reckon it's possible to pay less tax and drive on decent roads to be honest. Some grown up discussions needed rather than the emotive 'less tax = closure of a respite centre' kneejerk.

As an aside I do quite a bit of cycling. A few people at my club have suggested that some of the websites that report potholes to councils lead to swift repairs. Why? Because if no-one complains the council can pretend the road is fine. Once there has been a complaint the council then becomes more liable for future claims of damage and accidents.

I feel you are just typing ideal world scenarios simply to somehow, find a way to disagree or "tax me" on what i stated, while not actually disagreeing with anything said.

We can all type ideal world scenarios.

However, we don't live in that world - wonderful as it may be to do so.

I'm sorry you see what I said as a "kneejerk" reaction. However, due to funding cuts, this is what has actually happened and I can post news articles surrounding it if you so wish.

As I said, cut stamp duty if theres a requirement. I think it's a nasty tax myself. But in my opinion, we need to make sure that the money that stamp duty currently brings in is made up elsewhere, for all the reasons I have given.

michaels

CLAPTON wrote: »

In my area there is a new development of houses.
The infrastructure levy burden on the people buying the new houses is to be used for more speed humps.
most local people would prefer the potholes to be fixed.

Entirely off topic but where our local roads have the most holes is where there are speed bumps, traffic islands, special surfaces etc, the disturbance ot the road surface and to driving behaviour seems to mean they cause holes to develop. In previous years we were told that it was the cold that caused so many problems, this year no cold or frost at all but the roads are infinitely worse. I don't really approve of 'school run' SUVs but our next 'car' will be one with a suspension that can cope. I can't think what motorcyclists and cyclists do to stay safe?

wotsthat

Graham_Devon wrote: »

However, we don't live in that world - wonderful as it may be to do so.

So it's better to pay more tax than is needed and put up with inefficient government because 'that's the world we live in'?

Graham_Devon wrote: »

I'm sorry you see what I said as a "kneejerk" reaction. However, due to funding cuts, this is what has actually happened and I can post news articles surrounding it if you so wish.

Complain to the council. In January 2014 Devon County Council spent £38m on invoices over £500. Why didn't they prioritise the [STRIKE]road repair[/STRIKE] respite centre?

Are they even vaguely aware how unhappy you are about the state of the roads, closure of the respite centre/ youth club and the ads for Help To Buy on local radio? Very few engage so those that do get a disproportionate say in how the money is spent.

wotsthat

michaels wrote: »

Entirely off topic but where our local roads have the most holes is where there are speed bumps, traffic islands, special surfaces etc, the disturbance ot the road surface and to driving behaviour seems to mean they cause holes to develop. In previous years we were told that it was the cold that caused so many problems, this year no cold or frost at all but the roads are infinitely worse. I don't really approve of 'school run' SUVs but our next 'car' will be one with a suspension that can cope. I can't think what motorcyclists and cyclists do to stay safe?

They do cause damage to roads particularly to nearside edges and are difficult to negotiate when cycling.

I don't understand why they're functionally so poor either. In a 30mph zone you should be able to drive at 30moh. However many seem to be designed to take out the underside of a car if passed at 30mph.

cells

Its an ok tax imo

The rich pay a lot more than the less rich.

An alternative could be a yearly 0.3% property tax. You can apply it via the council tax bands.

So a £300k house would pay a yearly £900 property tax but there would be no stamo duty tax which would currently cost £9000 on purchase.

It would bring in about £17B a year.

Graham_Devon

wotsthat wrote: »

So it's better to pay more tax than is needed and put up with inefficient government because 'that's the world we live in'?

No.

What's more, I'm not sure why you are railroading me down this route. Seems a bit pointless if I'm honest.

All I said was that in my opinion that any revenue from stamp duty, if stamp duty is taxed, should be made up elsewhere.