THE Scottish Government highlights a shortfall in revenue in response to our concerns over the new Land and Buildings Transaction Tax, seemingly discounting the hugely damaging social and economic impact that penalising the middle and upper rungs of the housing ladder risks ("Fears over impact of property tax on hard-working families", The Herald, October 28).
With buyers in this bracket facing significant extra costs (for example, those purchasing a property at £450,000 would be faced with a bill of £22,300 - nearly £9,000 more than at present), they may well decide to simply stay put. As the consequences of such decisions feed through the market, we are concerned that it will then become more difficult for existing home owners to move up the ladder and for first-time buyers to get on to it. At a time when Scotland is still mired in a housing crisis and output levels remain at their lowest since 1947, this would be extremely damaging.
If the new system discourages house buying, this in itself will result in less tax. It is therefore imperative that the Scottish Government promotes a framework which allows movement up and down price levels without any artificial barriers and enables Scotland to remain competitive with the rest of the UK.
Philip Hogg,
Chief executive, Homes for Scotland, 5 New Mart Place, Edinburgh.
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