Miliband to Tax Foreigners, Help British First-time Buyers
Ed Miliband has recently promised to help British first-time buyers, while favouring local ownership and scrapping the levy on some purchases. He also plans to raise taxes for foreign property investors in the even that the UK labour Party gets elected in May.
This will mean that first-time buyers can avoid stamp duty as long as their home is valued under £300,000 for the first three years of the labour government with the aim of tackling the “modern housing crisis” in Britain.
Miliband also vowed that British buyers will get first opportunity for purchasing half of the new homes if they’ve lived in an area for longer than three years.
He plans to fund the stamp-duty exemption by raising taxes which would be paid by companies buying UK property for foreign investors, as well as introducing an increased stamp duty for homebuyers who are from outside of the European Union. Taxes may also be doubled on homes which have been left empty for a year.
Miliband said that there is nothing more British than starting out in a place of your own, but the dream of home ownership is fading as more people rent when they would prefer to buy, and new properties are being snapped up by foreign buyers before locals get a chance.
While David Cameron has attempted to position his party as the champion of British home ownership, Miliband’s announcement has challenged that. The lack of supply and huge demand from foreign buyers has meant that the housing market is now a huge battleground for this election, as more and more Britons are locked out of the market.
The proposal to abolish stamp duty may save first-time buyers up to £5000, as would focusing on tax avoidance by landlords.