Bubble tax

[DimPrawn]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/n...-on-homes.html

Adam Posen, a member of the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee, said that the Government should consider slapping extra taxes on British properties, suggesting that in future homeowners should have to pay an extra charge if prices rise too fast. In comments which will cause extreme disquiet in the Treasury, he even indicated that this may mean imposing capital gains taxes on first homes and raising stamp duty.


Now it all makes sense. The government has done whatever is necessary to ensure house prices rise, and now it is to pave the way to take all that gain through taxes on your primary residence.

Gotta love Labour.

[RichardCranium]

Alien lizard 1: "What elssssse can we do to sssscrew their economy?"

Alien lizard 2: "They sssstill have a mobile work forcccccce. Perhapssssss If we could find sssssome way to ssssstop them moving to where the few remaining jobssssss are?"

Alien Lizard 3: "How about taking all the profit they made on their housssssse when they sssssell it? They they will never want to move."

<general rolling about on the floor laughing and waving of legs in the air like in the old Smash adverts>

Alien Lizard 1: "I like it. Make it ssssssso."

Alien Lizard 2 puts on his mask and enters the large room.

Alien Lizard 2: "Honorable Members, Mr Speaker. I should now like to read you my new budget statement..."

[EternalOptimist]

Alien lizard 1: "What elssssse can we do to sssscrew their economy?"

Alien lizard 2: "They sssstill have a mobile work forcccccce. Perhapssssss If we could find sssssome way to ssssstop them moving to where the few remaining jobssssss are?"

Alien Lizard 3: "How about taking all the profit they made on their housssssse when they sssssell it? They they will never want to move."

<general rolling about on the floor laughing and waving of legs in the air like in the old Smash adverts>

Alien Lizard 1: "I like it. Make it ssssssso."

Alien Lizard 2 puts on his mask and enters the large room.

Alien Lizard 2: "Honorable Members, Mr Speaker. I should now like to read you my new budget statement..."

Truly excellent. and so much more mileage...

[Spacecadet]

How do you define "rising too fast"
Totally unworkable in practice... i.e a perfect labour policy

[threaded]

How do you define "rising too fast"

Oh that question is very easy to answer: it is defined as the increase over a time interval where you can buy more votes than you lose.

As you can see, it can be applied to not only static prices, but those dropping too.

Boomed!

[wurzel]

Alien lizard 1: "What elssssse can we do to sssscrew their economy?"

Alien lizard 2: "They sssstill have a mobile work forcccccce. Perhapssssss If we could find sssssome way to ssssstop them moving to where the few remaining jobssssss are?"

Alien Lizard 3: "How about taking all the profit they made on their housssssse when they sssssell it? They they will never want to move."

<general rolling about on the floor laughing and waving of legs in the air like in the old Smash adverts>

Alien Lizard 1: "I like it. Make it ssssssso."

Alien Lizard 2 puts on his mask and enters the large room.

Alien Lizard 2: "Honorable Members, Mr Speaker. I should now like to read you my new budget statement..."

Been reading David Icke?

[Mich the Tester]

Adam Posen, a member of the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee, said that the Government should consider slapping extra taxes on British properties, suggesting that in future homeowners should have to pay an extra charge if prices rise too fast. In comments which will cause extreme disquiet in the Treasury, he even indicated that this may mean imposing capital gains taxes on first homes and raising stamp duty.

Hang on, this is f*&king disgusting. Now OK, I live in Holland, but take my case as an example. I bought my house in 1999 for 370,000 guilders, or about 165000 euros. Within 5 years the value had nearly doubled. That's not through my actions, it's just the market. A couple of big employers arrived nearby and house prices went through the roof. I can't use that money without borrowing or selling my house and moving somewhere cheaper where there might be no work, so WTF sould I pay tax on it?

Oh, and what happens if your house is worth more because you built an extension or improved the condition of the house?

If this were to happen, you'll have people campaigning to stop businesses opening in their area, campaigning to lower the standard of schools in their area, not doing any maintenance of improvement on their houses, all out of fear that they get a big tax bill. Bloody idiot

[Moscow Mule]

IIRC, a couple of the Benelux countries already have CGT on first homes.

They also have insanely complicated income tax rules so I'm not suggesting it's a workable model...

[PM-Junkie]

What people should really be concerned about is how someone as clueless as this, who proposes things that would clearly be highly destructive, gets to be on the MPC.

[Mich the Tester]

IIRC, a couple of the Benelux countries already have CGT on first homes.

Yep, but it doesn't bring in any money because of all the claims people make against the council valuations and the fact that people just deduct something else from the tax.

In Greece they have such a tax which you start paying when the house is completely built. That's why you see so much scaffolding in Greece; nobody ever finishes off his house.