The impact of a proportional property tax in London

Article

The UK housing market does not share wealth and opportunity fairly.

Moving from our current system of council tax and stamp duty to a proportional property tax would help to address this, ensuring that our existing housing stock was shared more fairly, freeing up underoccupied housing stock for others to use, and helping to rebalance house prices across the country.

In the parts of the country where house prices are lower, this would cut property tax bills for the majority. In the parts of the country where house prices are higher – in particular London – this would help to tackle the crisis of affordability and make homeownership more accessible. But implementing a proportional property tax in London also has some particular challenges.

In this briefing, we look in detail at the specific issue of the impact of a proportional property tax on asset-rich, cash-poor households in London, using the recent Fairer Share proposals for the implementation of a proportional property tax as a case study.

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