Will a ‘mansion tax’ raise more money for the public purse?published at 12:46 BST
12:46 BST
Andrew Picken, BBC Scotland
The
Scottish Greens are proposing a shake-up of the Land and Buildings Transaction
Tax (LBTT) – Scotland’s version of stamp duty.
There
is no LBTT to pay on properties bought for under £145,000, external but then the rates steadily increase up to
12% for purchases over £750,000.
The
Greens want to reform the LBTT rates and exemptions but also add a new “mansion
tax” rate of 15% on properties worth over £1m.
Date published last year, external suggests there are more than 11,000
houses in Scotland in that price range with hundreds of them sold every year.
The
Greens argue the move will raise more cash for public services but not everyone
is convinced by the policy.
The
IFS think tank has said the idea is “economically, external damaging”, external while the Fraser of Allander Institute (FAI) points out , externalthere are no revenue estimates provided for the
proposal.
How
the tax would impact market behaviour with, for example, bunching of
transactions just below the £1m threshold to avoid the higher rate, also needs
to be considered, according to the FAI.