Feel Good Manifesto.
1. Remove all inheritance taxation.
2. Remove Stamp Duty.
3. Increase shared ownership housing construction.
4. Susidise the quality renovation of existing empty properties.*
This country values home ownership above most things. Families work all their lives to "own their own home".
Too many people realise they will be renting for their entire lives.
Owning your own home promotes sales of so mamy products, from carpets to white goods to mowers and on...
A firm base allows for family planning.
VAT is taken on all the goods that are bought so the revenue from that will compensate for closing down two taxes that inhibit and depress people.
Even when this country had much higher inflation, there was a "feel-good factor" because people could aspire to home ownership and achieve it.
*The most recent government statistics, released in November 2023, showed there were 261,189 long-term empty properties in England. That figure represents a rise of 12,556 homes compared to 2022, up 5% annually and 16% since before the pandemic in 2019.
The biggest was recorded in the South West – where there has been widespread concern about second homes – with the number of long-term empty homes rising 9% in just a year.
Long-term empty properties are a huge missed opportunity to invest in re-fitting and create new jobs.