Labour accused of imposing 'first-time buyers tax' - after Keir Starmer confirmed his party will not match the Tory commitment to abolish stamp duty
Labour has been accused of imposing 'first time buyers tax' after confirming they will not match the Tory commitment to abolish stamp duty.
The Labour leader said he would not 'follow the Government down the road of unfunded commitments' on stamp duty changes.
Earlier this month Rishi Sunak confirmed his party would extend the threshold at which first-time buyers start paying stamp duty, which was temporarily raised from £300,000 to £425,000 in 2022.
In theory, it means thousands more people are able to get on the property ladder without facing an additional levy.
But Sir Keir said Labour had no plans to do the same when the measure expires next April - sparking accusations from senior Tories that he is imposing an £11,250 'first time buyers tax' on young people.
Sir Keir Starmer (pictured on BBC Question Time) said he would not 'follow the Government down the road of unfunded commitments' on stamp duty changes
Mr Sunak will today channel Sir John Major by urging voters to carefully weigh up the long-term consequences of a Labour government
Sir Keir was also unable to commit to a date for abolishing Section 21 no-fault evictions, which was in the Renters' Reform Bill that the Government failed to get over the line before calling the election.
The Labour leader told the BBC: 'In the Budget the Government set out clearly its plan, that was costed, in relation to stamp duty and we will hold to that because it's fully costed.
'In this election campaign, they are desperately putting unfunded bids on the table day after day after day. What they are saying on stamp duty is another example of that.
'I'm not going to follow the Government down the road of unfunded commitments because when you lose control of the economy it's working people that pay the price.'
Housing Secretary Michael Gove said: 'The First-Time Buyer Tax, on top of Labour's £2,094 tax raid in council tax and other taxes, will punish hard-working people by as much as £11,250 in tax on their first home.'
The stamp duty threshold was raised in Kwasi Kwarteng's disastrous 'mini budget' in 2022 as part of a larger package of tax cuts, and maintained by his successor, Jeremy Hunt, due to its popularity with Tory MPs.
David Phillips, an associate director at the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), has previously called for the abolition of stamp duty entirely, saying: 'It is one of the most economically damaging taxes levied by the government, significantly increasing the cost of moving and gumming up both the housing and labour market.'
