Anthony Browne, the Conservative MP for South Cambridgeshire and former chief executive of the British Bankers’ Association, is calling on Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to stamp out Stamp Duty once and for all.

Browne, who is also Chair of the Conservative backbench Treasury Committee and a member of the Treasury Select Committee, says that with the debate on tax cuts set to grow government should prioritise scrapping Stamp Duty.

DRUMBEATS

Writing on the Conservative Home website earlier this week Browne, who was also previously a journalist at The Times, BBC and The Observer as well as an adviser to Boris Johnson when he was Mayor of London, said that the drumbeats for tax cuts were only going to get louder.

“All Conservatives want to cut taxes – the political debate is about which ones and when,” he writes.

There is one tax I would push to the front of death row: residential Stamp Duty.”

“There is one tax I would push to the front of death row: residential Stamp Duty.

“All taxes reduce the activity they are imposed on, but Stamp Duty is widely seen as one of the most economically destructive of taxes,” he argues.

The reasons why Stamp Duty is so damaging are well known: it quashes the housing market and reduces labour mobility.

As Browne points out, Stamp Duty is a transaction tax – a tax paid when you buy or sell – and it inescapably reduces the number of transactions.

“Making moving house expensive means that millions of people live in inappropriate housing,” he claims.

FREEZES

The problem, says Browne, is that the Government stares at the revenues – and freezes.

“The Treasury accepts that Stamp Duty reduces the number of house sales, but does not take into account the loss of other taxes – primarily VAT on all the other things homebuyer spend money on, such as building work and furniture.

“Take that into account, and stamp duty raises far less than the headlines suggest.

“With the debate on tax cuts set to grow in volume, we should prioritise scrapping this tax on homeownership. We should stamp out Stamp Duty.”

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