A Mansion Tax on homes worth more than £2m would affect just 1% of properties – yet 38% of consumers think it is unfair.
The finding, in a new poll by Rightmove, comes as the Lib Dems announced yesterday that they will not have a Mansion Tax policy after all. Labour, however, have committed themselves to it.
The Rightmove poll shows that nearly four in ten people think it would be an unfair tax to impose, despite the fact that just 1% of all properties currently on the market on Rightmove are priced at over £2m.
Of those, nearly three-quarters (72%) are located in London, with one in six (16%) in the south-east outside London.
Just over half of 2,700 respondents (52%) think it would be fair to introduce the tax and the remaining 10% didn’t know.
Rightmove director Miles Shipside said: “In spite of the extra tax burden being likely to affect fewer than 1% of home owners, they have the support of nearly four in ten who would avoid the tax but obviously dislike the principle.
“If the tax is introduced, those sellers who have had their homes valued at over £2m will need to lower their expectations on the deal they’ll be able to get, in the same way Stamp Duty bands affect asking prices.
“It isn’t something that is going to help boost home ownership, and other policies that could be considered are scrapping Stamp Duty for first-time buyers, and far more wide-reaching commitments to build a lot more houses.”
Pardon me for being obtuse, but isn't the real story that 52 per cent of people think a mansion tax is fair? The story should either be "Only four out of ten people think a Mansion Tax would be unfair" or "Majority want to see Mansion Tax imposed". Backing a mansion tax could be a Rightmove for lefties and a Wrongmove for liberals and rightists (increasingly the same thing despite Clegg's Cables to the electorate about being the opposite and entirely different from right thinkers, sadly absent from any of our political parties at present).
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I think people assumed the idea would be more popular among the 99% of people unaffected by the plans. Rightmove was obviously expecting a more overwhelming response in favour. It tends to only be the poor that want to penalise the rich, which are votes Labour are hoping to achieve, with their Robin Hood manifesto that includes banning all tenants fees.
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