True to his word our esteemed Chancellor, George, as promised, has today issued planning guidelines that, by all accounts, involve a major reform of the Planning Process which is long overdue.
The truth is we are currently building a third of the private/affordable homes that we built in the 60s and less than half the amount that we need to satisfy demand in the UK and it’s no wonder why there is a housing shortage. Continue reading
It is very good news indeed that the UK is growing at one of the fastest rates of the advanced economies of the world i.e. 3% last year and 2.4% predicted this year. Also, in the last five years creating two million jobs and a further one million in the next Electoral term is quite an accomplishment.
The ‘Banana Republic’ Budget Deficit that our ‘esteemed’ former Prime Minister, Gordon Brown left us with, of 11%, is now 5.5% and falling to 3.7% this year with a surplus at the end of the Electoral term – a major accomplishment for any government in the western world these days. Continue reading
Stamp Duty (SDLT), first called ‘The Land Tax’, was introduced in 1692 during the reign of William & Mary and was designed to raise money to fund a war against France (if you are Euro-skeptic you may think it was a worthwhile investment!).
The slab-sided Stamp Duty Tax had various tiers from 0-5% and these levels remained for many years. At the time, under pressure from the coalition government to help reduce the Deficit in the Budget of 2012, the higher levels of the Tax were raised to 7% and 15% dependent on whether the purchase was personal or corporate. There was a lot of ‘white noise’ about international buyers escaping Stamp Duty by purchasing shares in the corporate entity that owned the property rather than purchasing the asset itself. A further ‘quasi Mansion Tax’ was also applied to corporate purchasers by way of ATED which could impose another Tax of £150,000 per annum. Continue reading