Another day, another grand plan to “fix” Britain’s housing crisis by taxing landlords. This time, the idea comes from the Resolution Foundation, a think tank with deep ties to Labour and a revolving door into the Treasury. Its latest proposal is simple on the surface: cut employee National Insurance by 2p, raise Income Tax by 2p, and let landlords, pensioners and the self-employed pick up the tab. Problem solved, or so we’re told.
Ruth Curtice, the foundation’s chief executive and a veteran of the Treasury, was blunt in a recent BBC interview: landlords would pay more, and rightly so, in her view. Why should they pay less tax than their tenants? The scheme, she claims, would bring in £6 billion for the government.
But here’s the flaw: squeezing landlords harder does nothing to address the root of Britain’s housing mess. Rents are rising because demand far outstrips supply. Landlords are already exiting the market, driven out by rising interest rates, tighter regulations, and years of piecemeal tax hikes. If we push them further, supply falls again, rents climb higher, and tenants are left with fewer choices and bigger bills.
It’s politically convenient, of course, to target landlords. They make easy villains in a narrative that pits them against struggling tenants. But scapegoating property owners avoids the uncomfortable truth: Britain doesn’t build enough homes. Planning laws, local opposition, and government inertia have left us with a housing shortage that no tweak to the tax code can fix.
The Resolution Foundation frames this as fairness for “working people.” But fairness isn’t much comfort if you can’t find a flat, or if your rent swallows half your pay packet. Raising billions from landlords might balance the Treasury’s books, but it won’t build a single new house.
Until politicians confront the supply problem head-on, renters will remain trapped, landlords will keep leaving, and every “solution” that avoids the hard questions will only deepen the crisis.