Council for Mortgage Lenders (CML) calls for Stamp Duty reform

The Council of Mortgage Lenders has called for a review of current Stamp Duty legislation which it claims is distorting the market.

The CML said the combination of a recovering housing market and the fiscal creep associated with stamp duty is affecting an increasing number of first-time buyers and hampering the efficient use of existing housing stock.

In its latest manifesto ‘A housing market to be proud of’ the association said: “Home buyers paid £4.9bn of stamp duty in 2012/13 compared with the previous peak of £6.7bn reached in 2007/08 – even though there were only around 900,000 transactions compared to 1.6 million in 2007.

“However, the way in which stamp duty is levied has not been reviewed for a long time and its current impact is market-distorting, especially because of the ‘slab’ method by which it is calculated.

“The impact of the tax in all parts of the UK should be reviewed.”

The CML has long been an advocate of Stamp Duty reform and in particular the removal of the current "slab" structure and is known to favour the introduction of a marginal rate system similar to income tax.