A senior Conversative figure has said he believes Stamp Duty is not an ‘efficient’ tax for Governments seeking economic growth and that it needs reform.

The comments have come from Richard Fuller (main image), shadow chief secretary to the Treasury who told Sky News that he would “look at ways of getting rid of inefficient taxes”, referring to the higher rates of tax paid by those on high incomes.

“There are other taxes which aren’t particularly efficient at getting economic growth,” he added.

“Stamp Duty, when people move home – [is a tax that] most economists would say isn’t efficient.

“The Chancellor should be going through all these taxes and be fearless – when she talks about fairness and economic growth she has to recognise that sometimes those two things don’t completely align.

“If she’s going to go for growth, she must eliminate some of the tax inefficiencies that inhibit growth.”

Pleased Propertymark

His comments will please those running Propertymark. It recently called for reform of Stamp Duty, including lowering the threshold for first-time buyers.

It said, with the backing of Phil Spencer, that: “To continue to support people onto the housing ladder the current threshold of £425,000 should remain, along with the 5% rate for properties up to £925,000.”

Fullers’ comments have also gone down well among Tory supporters. The Deputy Editor of its in-house magazine, Conservative Home, lauded him.

Tali Fraser said: “Stamp duty exacerbates the housing crisis by trapping people in the wrong houses; we stop moving so often because we are punished for doing so.

“It sees young people struggle to move to where the jobs are, with a knock-on effect for productivity, as young families struggle to trade up – it makes it hard to save up deposits as they have to come up with the cash for Stamp Duty, too.

“Large family houses sit half-empty as older people, whose children have long flown the nest, remain stuck in homes they may prefer to leave as it costs so much to move – acting as a barrier to downsizing and preventing them from unlocking the wealth tied up in their houses.”

Image credit; Sky News