Stamped out

Call to stamp out Stamp Duty for the over-65s

UKIP’s Prospective Parliamentary Candidate (PPC) for the Isle of Wight, Iain McKie, has written to his party’s economics spokesman, Steven Woolfe MEP, putting forward a manifesto recommendation that he believes will benefit a large proportion of Island residents.

Mr McKie would like to see allow the over 65s receive a ‘Get out of Stamp Duty one-use pass’. Well known as a beautiful place to retire, it won’t be a surprise to hear that 22.4% of the Isle of Wight population are aged 65 or over.

The proposal
He told Mr Woolfe,

I am sure that you are aware of the Stamp out Stamp Duty campaign which has been gathering momentum and support. Stamp Duty is, as you know, an unfair tax on social mobility on money that has already been taxed. It may not be feasible to go the whole hog and abolish the tax in one fell swoop, but I would like to request that you give some consideration to a potential first stage towards its abolition, and allow the over 65s a Get out of Stamp Duty one-use pass.

This would allow pensioners, whose savings are being wrecked by Quantitative Easing and ruinous energy policies, the chance to downsize and economize without having to write a big fat cheque to HMRC. This would enormously help the lives of millions of older people, especially after one of a couple dies leaving the other terribly less well off. The savings will also help pensioners who are having to downsize in order to raise cash to pay for their care.

Having a one-use card will prevent the system from being gamed, and also prevent too much lost revenue to the State while we try and get the finances back in order.

Image: dskley under CC BY 2.0