Stamp duty

Stamp duty is a re-registration tax. That means you pay it whenever you buy (but not sell) a registered asset.

Stamp duty is a tax incurred when you buy (but not sell) a registered asset. The most common examples are property (the buyer's name has to be recorded at the Land Registry) and shares (the relevant company share register has to be updated).

Originally, stamp duty was justified as the government's way of recouping the cost of the re-registration of property. However, given that this all now takes place digitally, that logic has disappeared in short, it's just a tax, pure and simple.

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