UK Boomers Need Tax Breaks to Downsize Their Houses

The easiest way of avoiding a transaction tax is not to transact. So one of the few things we can say with any great certainty about April 1’s stamp duty increase, as the UK’s property purchase levy is known, is that it will likely reduce the number of property transactions.

The levy will now be imposed on all properties from as low as £125,000 ($162,000), halving from £250,000. This is on a rapidly upward sliding scale starting from 2%, but now for purchases costing £250,000 it jumps to 5% and then steadily ratchets up to 12% for homes above £1.5 million. First-time buyers catch something of a break as duty only kicks in from £300,000 but that’s also been lowered from £425,000. There’s an opportunity being missed, though: There’s no reward for those stepping down the housing ladder.