Here's a new party game for you. Let's call it 'Spot the Mansion'. You open the links below and look at the houses. Then (trying please not to look at the sales prices), you guess which the Lib Dems think is a mansion and which they think is an ordinary person's house.
Subscribe to MoneyWeek
Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE
Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
As you have probably guessed by now, all the odd numbers are mansions and all the evennumbers are not mansions (ie, the nice houses in which you might aspire to live,but are so expensive to keep up that you have to be rich to own them). It makes the idea of a mansion tax seem a bit silly, doesn't it?
That's particularly the case if you marry the idea of taxing apparently high-end property with whopping rises in stamp duty, as today's papers suggest is about to happen again with the data emerging from the London market at the moment.
In the third quarter of this year, transactions fell by 9% in prime central London to a mere 5,226. But look at Greater London, and in particular at the £2m-£5m sector, and you can see just how the effects of the new tax legislation are beginning to bite (these put stamp duty up to 7% for people and 15% for companies on property valued at over £2m). Transactions are down 53%.
Yes, you read that right. 53%. Regular readers will know that we aren't against changes to the property tax regime - we'd swap the lot for a location taxor for a capital gains charge on first homes. But we can't really see the good in going about it like this.
Stamp duty is a terrible tax for all the reasons I mention here, but the main problem with it is the way in which it freezes transactions and cripples labour mobility. We need less of it, not more of it.
PS -I can't write it all again, so as the whole idea of a wealth tax on property won't go away, here is my last blog on it: A wealth tax on the value of property is a bad idea. And the one before that: Will the wealth tax never die?
-
Going part-time could leave a £58,000 hole in your pension: how to plug the gapThere are many reasons for switching to part-time work, but some savers don’t consider the impact on their pension until it is too late
-
Three bargain investment trusts to add to your portfolioThese three investment trusts are bargains compared to their net asset value (NAV), but one fund analyst thinks the deep discounts are unwarranted.
-
Beating inflation takes more luck than skill – but are we about to get lucky?Opinion The US Federal Reserve managed to beat inflation in the 1980s. But much of that was down to pure luck. Thankfully, says Merryn Somerset Webb, the Bank of England may be about to get lucky.
-
Rishi Sunak can’t fix all our problems – so why try?Opinion Rishi Sunak’s Spring Statement is an attempt to plaster over problems the chancellor can’t fix. So should he even bother trying, asks Merryn Somerset Webb?
-
Young people are becoming a scarce resource – we should value them more highlyOpinion In the last two years adults have been bizarrely unkind to children and young people. That doesn’t bode well for the future, says Merryn Somerset Webb.
-
Ask for a pay rise – everyone else isOpinion As inflation bites and the labour market remains tight, many of the nation's employees are asking for a pay rise. Merryn Somerset Webb explains why you should do that too.
-
Why central banks should stick to controlling inflationOpinion The world’s central bankers are stepping out of their traditional roles and becoming much more political. That’s a mistake, says Merryn Somerset Webb.
-
How St Ives became St Tropez as the recovery drives prices sky highOpinion Merryn Somerset Webb finds herself at the epicentre of Britain’s V-shaped recovery as pent-up demand flows straight into Cornwall’s restaurants and beaches.
-
The real problem of Universal Basic Income (UBI)Merryn's Blog April employment numbers showed 75 per cent fewer people in the US returned to employment compared to expectations. Merryn Somerset-Webb explains how excessive government support is causing a shortage of labour.
-
Why an ageing population is not necessarily the disaster many people think it isOpinion We’ve got used to the idea that an ageing population is a bad thing. But that’s not necessarily true, says Merryn Somerset Webb.
