Council Tax

[sponge]

Did the government abolish Stamp duty on property's under �120k because they are re-evaluating council tax bands therefore are set to make up the deficit that way?

[vicars]

no, not directly anyway, they have raised the limit as many trade bodies and opposition have been lobbying for a rise in stamp duty as it has stayed static for so long. To not do this would put the Labour govt in a bad light with so many people asking for stamp duty limits to be raised. Raising to 120k will not actually effect that many, and many called for a minimum of 150k.

[Didwot]

How many properties are worth less than �120,000 now? How many of them are in non Labour areas?
Now what difference will it make anyway? A saving of �1000 on a transaction of �100,000 is hardly noticeable, and the seller will probalbly bump the price up anyway.
The great thing about Stamp Duty is that it is a largely voluntarily tax. The bad thing is that it operates in bands, so that a difference in price of a few pounds can lead to a difference in tax running into thousands.