Article: Stamping ground: Helen Monks looks at the possibility of the Government raising stamp duty or imposing CGT on principal residences.(Property Market)

House prices have rocketed so it should come as no surprise if the Government is looking at ways to extract the wealth of the nation through this market.

It was recently revealed that the Inland Revenue is already taking record levels of stamp duty on homes--3.59bn [pounds sterling] this year compared with 675m [pounds sterling] in 1997, when Labour came to power.

This is in part down to the reluctance of the Government to raise stamp duty thresholds, which see even first-time buyers hit because the nil-rate band applies to properties below 60,000 [pounds sterling].

The news followed speculation that Chancellor Gordon Brown is considering ...

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