Landlords are furious as Labour’s secret property tax plans threaten to hammer homeowners while leaving buy-to-let surcharges firmly in place.
Leaked proposals, revealed by The Guardian, show Treasury officials plotting a new national property tax on homes worth over £500,000. Sellers would be slapped with the charge, with HMRC scooping up the cash straight from the sale.
But here’s the sting: the new levy won’t replace stamp duty on second homes. Landlords already hit with heavy surcharges are being left high and dry – forced to keep paying while Labour dreams up fresh ways to raid middle-class homeowners.
The Treasury’s coffers are already bulging. Stamp duty pulled in a staggering £4.6 billion between April and June, including £1.1 billion in June alone – a 15% jump in just a month. That came after ministers dragged more buyers into the net by slashing the nil-rate threshold from £250,000 to £125,000 in April.
Labour says the shake-up will “modernise” the creaking tax system and tackle inequality. Critics say it’s just another smash-and-grab raid on property owners – and a brutal blow for landlords, who once again find themselves paying more and getting nothing back.