Reply to: CGT on principal home sales ?

[DealorNoDeal]

AYCOTBAC? its 10% on £1m.

If you can afford a £1m house then surely you can afford a decent accountant to get around it.

[vetran]

In Spain, buying costs (taxes etc) are much higher than here at around 10%.

AYCOTBAC? its 10% on £1m.

[AtW]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-63586271

That's whopping 260k EUR mate, please do check the original requirements...

[sadkingbilly]

But real estate how much cheaper?

What can one buy for say 250k EUR?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-63586271

[AtW]

In Spain, buying costs (taxes etc) are much higher than here at around 10%.

But real estate how much cheaper?

What can one buy for say 250k EUR?

[d000hg]

Which makes property more affordable, so it's the direction the govt needs to move in. Profit belongs to the govt.

Why should you get wealthy just from owning a house? Rising house prices are a problem so if a profit tax was introduced, that would automatically stop prices rising so much.

I'm not advocating for it but it would be interesting. There would have to be some allowance on how long you had owned the place. And it would penalise people badly who renovated.

[DealorNoDeal]

Do these European countries have stamp duty on buying?

In Spain, buying costs (taxes etc) are much higher than here at around 10%.

[AtW]

Do these European countries have stamp duty on buying?

The UK way is tax buyers and not sellers. We could switch that, but then abolish stamp duty. So not sure how much extra revenue it would generate (if can claim against inflation and renovations).

No, the way it's going to work here is that both sides will be taxed with same (or lower - means tested) tulip services on offer

HTH

[Fraidycat]

Many European countries tax the profit on the sale of your primary residence, infact there is no such concept as primary residence, there is just taxes on all property you own, and sell.

Do these European countries have stamp duty on buying?

The UK way is tax buyers and not sellers. We could switch that, but then abolish stamp duty. So not sure how much extra revenue it would generate (if can claim against inflation and renovations).

[_V_]

It's one way to kill house price rises.

Which makes property more affordable, so it's the direction the govt needs to move in. Profit belongs to the govt.

[d000hg]

It's one way to kill house price rises.

[vetran]

All very sensible but the middle classes would rather sacrifice their firstborn child than have CGT on their homes.

Depends on the firstborn!

[DodgyAccountant]

Yeah a lot of people think that the whole world has this same idea that the property you own and live in is somehow "untaxable". Many European countries tax the profit on the sale of your primary residence, infact there is no such concept as primary residence, there is just taxes on all property you own, and sell.

All very sensible but the middle classes would rather sacrifice their firstborn child than have CGT on their homes.

[_V_]

It can't be that hard because other jurisdictions do it. I agree it probably won't happen, though, but mainly for political rather than technical reasons. Ironically, these sort of sweeping middle class tax increases/reforms are more likely to be introduced by the Tories than Labour, though.

Yeah a lot of people think that the whole world has this same idea that the property you own and live in is somehow "untaxable". Many European countries tax the profit on the sale of your primary residence, infact there is no such concept as primary residence, there is just taxes on all property you own, and sell.

They allow any capital spent on it (major renovations / extensions), they also allow the annulised rate of inflation, so any gains below the inflation rate is tax free. Anything outside of this is taxed as a gain.

Tories should bring this in, and basically take all the long years of property price gains straight to their pockets. Then spend the money on consultant companies, friends and and relatives, as per the Tory norm.

[Lockhouse]

Introducing CGT on primary residences would have a raft of unintended consequences. For one, it would stagnate the market as people would equity release rather than downsize. I'm sure there are loads more.

I agree with the other poster. Unlikely to happen this time around but is a softening up move so new taxes don't look so bad.