Chancellor told by famous economist to forget tax raid on landlords
Leading economist Paul Johnson has joined forces with the NRLA to warn Chancellor Rachel Reeves not to impose new taxes on property investors.
Landlord leaders and a leading economist have warned the Government against short term tax grabs.
The follows rumours that Chancellor Rachel Reeves is reported to be considering raising tax from the PRS with various moves in next month’s Budget, including making landlords pay National Insurance.
But Paul Johnson (main picture), who until recently was Director at the highly influential IFS (Institute for Fiscal Studies), and the NRLA have joined forces to oppose tax hikes.
Complete nonsense
Johnson told the Listen Up Landlords podcast: “The first myth to bust is the idea… that somehow landlords are under-taxed relative to owner-occupiers, which is complete nonsense.
“If you make it more expensive to be a landlord, then there will be some combination of fewer landlords and higher rent.”
If I were Chancellor for the day, I would abolish it”.
And he backed the policy announced last week by Conservative Leader Kemi Badenoch to scrap Stamp Duty.
He called it “the worst tax we have,” adding, “if I were Chancellor for the day, I would abolish it”.
Knee jerk
Ben Beadle, CEO at the NRLA, says: “Ahead of the Budget the Government must heed Paul Johnson’s sage advice.
“Too often the way rental property is taxed is based on nothing more than topping up the coffers from one year to the next. Such knee jerk and short-term thinking is no way to run an economy,” he says.
“What is needed is a consistent tax strategy that gives responsible landlords the confidence to invest in the decent long-term homes for rent that so many people desperately need.”
