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Stamp duty is a 'sin tax' and growth barrier that should be abolished, Allsopp tells MPs
The Guardian
|November 13, 2025
Rachel Reeves has been urged to abolish the “sin tax” of stamp duty in the budget by property experts including the TV presenter Kirstie Allsopp, as the chancellor faced calls to replace it with an annual property tax.
Allsopp, the presenter of Channel 4 property shows including Location, Location, Location, said “people are in a panic” about potential stamp duty changes, and were “sitting tight” ahead of the budget.
Speaking to MPs on the Treasury committee, she said: “We have to be very careful not to see buying property as a sin, because at the moment it’s a sin tax. It’s like cigarettes and alcohol and first-class travel.
“You are actually punished for wanting to buy a more expensive property than the previous one, and that is wrong ... Everybody tells you that it is an economic positive to encourage people to move house.”
This story is from the November 13, 2025 edition of The Guardian.
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