THE Conservatives have claimed uncertainty over details of the replacement for stamp duty could delay or scare off major investment in Scotland.
Details of the rates and bands to replace the tax will not be outlined until after the independence referendum in September next year, Finance Secretary John Swinney confirmed yesterday.
The replacement for the current system, where most householders pay upwards of 1% in stamp duty on the purchase price of their new home, will be replaced from April 2015.
Conservative finance spokesman Gavin Brown, whose party backs the scheme in principle, questioned the timing of the tax announcement.
He said: "There are real worries this will cause uncertainty, and could delay or scare off major investment in Scotland. We want to see this announcement moved forward significantly to avoid that scenario in keeping with the clear evidence given to the Finance Committee."
House-buyers currently pay 3% on the price of a property valued between £250,000 and £500,000, but only 1% on those bought at between £125,000 and £250,000. The percentage paid at the time of the purchase is higher for more expensive homes. A key part of the new system is that only the proportion of the price above the threshold will be liable for the higher rate of tax. Mr Swinney said the new system put forward "signals a move away from the UK Government's slab tax approach to stamp duty land tax which distorts the market".
He added: "We are proposing a progressive system of taxation where the amount paid is more closely related to the value of the property, and therefore to the ability of the individual to pay. This approach has been warmly welcomed by tax professionals and others during the public consultation."
Mr Swinney said he had still to reach a conclusion on when to announce the rates and tax bands, but that it would not be any earlier than September 2014, and he may wait until closer to April 2015.
Responsibility for the tax on land and property sales was devolved to Holyrood as part of the Scotland Act 2012.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article