Opinion, Watford Observer, Labour government tax on £500k homes would hit Watford | Watford Observer
The Labour government’s failures are coming home to roost. Its inability to get a grip on the nation’s finances, its anti-growth policies including taxes on jobs, and its insistence on making deals with its trade union backers to give massive pay rises to a favoured few, all mean the Government is running out of cash.
And it might be your money it’s after.
Apparently the Chancellor is looking at imposing some kind of new sales tax on homes worth more than £500,000.
The average price of a home in Watford is £426,00 according to the Office for National Statistics. This means a huge number of local residents would be targeted by such a tax grab. Of course owners of a large detached house would be hit as you might suspect. But it is far worse than that. It would hit owners of much more modest properties.
The average price of a semi-detached home in Watford is £546,00. Their owners would also be victims of this tax. But it gets even worse.
The average price of a terrace house in Watford today is £436,00. That’s not far below the suggested threshold already. As the figure of £500,00 is likely to be fixed while property prices rise, even a Watford terrace home could be hit within just two or three years.
The bottom line is that a vast majority of Watford’s property owners could be victims of this suggested new tax.
The Labour government is apparently also considering a new inheritance tax on high value homes.
These tax threats are yet again cases of a Labour government hurting people who work hard, save money and buy their own homes. It is typically punishing aspiration and ambition.
Our Labour MP Matt Turmaine needs to defend our town’s residents. He should call publicly for any proposals to impose a sales tax or new inheritance tax on our homes to be rejected.
Stephen Woodard
Chairman, Watford Conservatives
