BoJo’s proposed Stamp Duty reforms

In his weekly Monday Column for the Daily Telegraph, Boris Johnson, has told Theresa May slash the absurdly high Stamp Duty (SDLT) tax rates and abandon affordable housing targets.

Boris indicated he thought the housing market is the single biggest and most urgent crisis we face and would lead to an impending crisis of capitalism. The theory being if you don’t own any capital assets how can you be enthusiastic about capitalism.

Boris would like Stamp Duty cut to facilitate a more ‘mobile’ housing market that would encourage First Time Buyers.

Boris went on to say: “It is not just that things were so much easier 30 years ago when I left university and went looking for a flat. It was only 10 years ago, for heaven’s sake, that the proportion of owner occupiers among 25 to 34 year olds was still up at 64%.

“That figure has now plummeted to 39%. More than half the key generation shut out of the housing market.

“This is meant to be Britain, the great homeworking democracy, but we now have lower rates of owner occupation for the under 40s than France and Germany.

“That is a disgrace. It is of little surprise that young people may give up on capitalism if it excludes them from housing.”