Stamp Duty is to be abolished in Scotland, it has been announced.
John Swinney, finance minister, said that it would be replaced by a new 'fairer' Land and Buildings Transactions tax in 2015.
There would be no tax at all on properties costing up to £170,000, and a cut in tax for people buying property up to £325,000.
The move will be watched closely at Westminster, where the Government has come under increasing pressure to reform the 'slab' structure of the current Stamp Duty regime.
The Scottish Property Federation said it 'cautiously' welcomed the Holyrood proposals, whilst the NAEA said the proposed changes was good news for the housing market and home buyers. NAEA Scottish spokesman David Mackie said: "Although we still await the details, we are encouraged that the Scottish Government is looking at options for changing the current slab structure to a more progressive system.
"We have long argued that the slab structure for Stamp Duty is unfair and creates huge distortions in the market, and we hope that the proposed Land and Buildings Transaction Tax turns out to be a much fairer and more logical system.
"We applaud the Scottish Government for recognising the important role that housing provides in the wider economy, and call on Westminster to follow suit."
The transfer of control over Stamp Duty from Westminster was a key part of the Scotland Bill which was heralded as the largest transfer of power north of the border since devolution.
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Comments
but there are many other factors to be considered: stamp duty, window tax, swamp insurance, hen food, dog biscuits, cow ointment -- the expenses are endless.
Do you still actually get your documents stamped for real?
AC- Agree , how about we have England run by the English in that event, return to “independent” Scotland all their MPs.
2015 ???????
Oh great !
Did John Sweeney get out of his bed one morning and think to himself "how can I hold up the property market for a few years" ... "I know !! I will tell prospective buyers if they hang on until some point in the future I will make it cheaper for them"
He then makes announcements. Lets all talk about it, consult, debate and defer through the rest of 2012 all of 2013 and 2014 and then do something in 2015. That will hold the market up for sure.
What is wrong with these people? Are they truly stupid.
Well done Mr Sweeney. Good work.
It's just a change of structure. Why does any government think it can put its hand in your pocket just because you have the audacity to make a transaction? We have paid, or with a mortgage will pay, tax on the income that funds the transaction.
Why re-invent wheel? Aussie SDLT has similar break points to UK except you pay the % up to the points rather than on the whole. ie a £600k home would have SDLT at 1% of the £175-250k amount, 3% of the £250-500k portion and 4% on the £500-600k bit. A tiny bit more complicated but far fairer and so does not really cause complaint .... but any govt loss with this system is balanced out by a similar system when you buy a car. At least that stops Chav Boy buying 3 cars a month & leaving them to rot in the front garden of his council house.
This Scottish Devolution issue is MASSIVE.
If what's left of the UK was completely FAIR in the split then Scotland would be absolutely screwed.
No defence money
No NHS money
No Road Tax money
Etcetera, etcetera.
Personally, I think we should say to them "Fine, no problems, but if you don't want to be 100% part of the UK then take 100% of the consequences."
I am all for Scotland being more Scottish, a bit like Wales, they can spend extra money on printing everything twice if they like, but this extreme Nationalism will end up hurting us because we are nice and liberal and don't like offending people.
Rant over