City Hall Tories want control of stamp duty
Conservatives in City Hall want Whitehall to hand control over stamp duty to local authorities – and are bolstering their case by claiming devolution could lead to more than 40,000 new homes in London each year.
Greater London Authority (GLA) Conservatives said today that City Hall could finance the building of 42,614 homes each year if it were able to collect revenues from stamp duty levied in the capital.
GLA Conservative budget spokesman Gareth Bacon crunched the numbers by assuming an average building cost of £194,000 per new home. London generated £4.28bn in stamp duty last year.
London Mayor Boris Johnson has backed the GLA’s findings, saying they “show just why stamp duty should be devolved to London”.