Overview

• Officials are studying a national proportional levy paid by owner-occupiers when they sell homes valued above £500,000, with rates set centrally and collected by HMRC.
• The prospective charge would not replace stamp duty on second homes, and no final decision has been taken as modelling continues.
• A separate strand of work is examining a local property tax that could eventually replace council tax, a longer‑term project likely beyond this parliament.
• Stamp duty on primary residences raised £11.6bn last year; the proposed levy would touch about a fifth of transactions versus roughly 60% under today’s buyer‑paid system.
• Analysts warn the burden would fall heavily on London and the South East—where half of £500,000‑plus sales occur—as critics flag threshold distortions, while officials draw on Onward’s Tim Leunig report and Labour faces internal pressure for wealth‑based measures.