Stamp duty surcharge pulls in £6.6bn

HMRC figures show that the 3% stamp duty surcharge on additional properties, introduced in 2016, had raised £6.6bn by the end of last year. The Treasury originally put the target at £2.9bn by the end of the 2019/2020 tax year. When it was launched, George Osborne, the Chancellor at the time, said it would help first time buyers by dampening the investor market, but analysis by Countrywide of the charge's first year found that only 69% of those affected were landlords and second home-buyers. Tax expert Adam Kay said: “The whole point of this was to stop people buying too much property - many cases have nothing to do with that. It is reasonable to argue that it isn't working.”

The Times (06/03/2020)