Author Archives: Trevor Abrahmsohn

Is the property market being polluted by another ‘initiative’?

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According to a new website ‘Addresspollution.org’, the chattering-class ghettoes of Chelsea, Notting Hill, Regents Park and Camden suffer air pollution of well above the legal limit of 40micrograms of NO2 (Nitrogen Dioxide) per cubic metre of air (mcg/m3). I’m sure that much of this can be attributed to the residents’ penchant for spouting mindless, à la mode PC drivel.

Nevertheless, the safest areas for your lungs appear to be Sevenoaks and surprisingly, Biggin Hill, of all places! Yes, that Biggin Hill, whose annual air show must dump the equivalent of a Vesuvius eruption in the Kentish atmosphere. Apparently, these towns bask in the lowest concentration of nitrous pollutants. Continue reading →

Switching stamp duty from buyers to sellers could upset loan to value ratio for mortgages

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It’s always gratifying to see one’s ideas vindicated in reality – a kind of benign schadenfreude, if you like. This week, Sajid Javid mooted that he could switch Stamp Duty (SDLT) from buyers to sellers, which is a version of what I have been advocating for a number of years, particularly if the rate is significantly lowered.

Clearly, there is an intention of the new Tory regime to end the stagnation and distortion of the Residential Property Market, which was instigated by the witless former Chancellor George Osborne and his Stamp Duty escalator ‘reforms’ in the Autumn Budget of 2014. Continue reading →

The only certainties in life are death and that higher taxes raise less money

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According to Winston Churchill, “There is no such thing as a good tax”. He could very well have been referring to the draconian changes to Non-Doms and Stamp Duty, which are now costing the Treasury £3billion per year. One could play a game of ‘Fantasy Infrastructure’ and ponder how many hospitals and schools could be bought for this humungous amount of money.

The omnipresent, politics of envy, represents the pinnacle of socialist utopian thinking, managing to be both expensive and inefficient at the same time. Like all caring, sharing lefties, Labour governments can’t wait to get their greedy hands on other peoples’ stuff so that they can whittle it away. The hapless, former Chancellor Osborne succumbed to this practice in 2014, when he caved into the usual Labour clamour about ‘soshul justis ishoos’. Continue reading →