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Politics

Latest mansion tax should be on top % homes locally not nationallu

261 replies

Lionfisher · 27/10/2025 22:37

Rachel Reeves is front running yet another class warfare policy in the press, this time suggesting everyone who lives in a home over £2m should have to pay 1% on anything above 2m.

First - I’m fine with this. I live in SW London and would probably have to pay some.

But I’m ONLY fine with it if everyone round the country does too. Meaning that it should be on the top 5% of homes by REGION (I’ll leave it to other people to argue what region means, all the data is there to do it).

We could happily sell our 4 bed home and move somewhere else in the country and buy a 10 bed castle. Or just buy another 4 bed home and stash the rest in the markets. TBH we might even do that if this comes in.

But people don’t want us to do this because it prices them out of local homes etc. Which is pretty much what this policy would do, price people out of local homes so they move elsewhere and prices up somewhere else instead.

But more than anything you can be far more rich on far less money in other parts of the country. So this isn’t a tax on property it’s a tax on the south.

As long as top X% of homeowners elsewhere are paying their 1% above their threshold I’ve no issues with this.

But people won’t agree with me as it’s easier to think it should always be “other people” who pay…. or will they?

OP posts:
Marshmallow4545 · 28/10/2025 08:11

zupro · 28/10/2025 08:06

The idea that you pay tax simply for owning a house is setting a new precedent.

What is stamp duty then?

That's a sales tax. Like VAT. It's not an annual tax applied to ownership

AmethystAnnotation · 28/10/2025 08:10

ShesTheAlbatross · 28/10/2025 08:02

No, the house price to average salary ratio is not the same. It’s much higher in London. 7.8 times average salary in London, 3.6 times average salary in Yorkshire.

But that still equates to a higher salary, and that's a typically London-centric viewpoint anyway. There is more to the south east than London.

suburburban · 28/10/2025 08:07

MaturingCheeseball · 28/10/2025 07:58

Taxing £2m houses isn’t going to raise enough. That will be the gateway; who owns a £2m house? Hardly anybody so most of us will shrug. Until….. next it’s the £1m house. A bit less shrugging. But too many houses valued at £900k and then -tada! £500k + and of course a bit of garden tax thrown in to really shaft those pesky southerners.

Yes exactly Un modern 4 beds are 1 million

they never raise up the thresholds for these greedy taxes

zupro · 28/10/2025 08:07

The problem in this country is not inequality it’s that everyone wants someone else to pay. And they vote accordingly

True

Or even better, just increase national debt so that our children and their children pay.

I think we have run out of road here, not enough kids for one.

TenGreatFatSquirrels · 28/10/2025 08:06

1dayatatime · 27/10/2025 23:23

It's another badly thought through Labour policy of envy rather than a prudent tax policy.

How is it that a person with a £2 million house and a £1.5 million mortgage has to pay it but someone with a £1.2 million house doesn't.

If you want to raise tax revenue from housing then simply introduce CGT for main residence. You could even have it kicking in after a CGT threshold of x, so that it only bashes the poshos and boomers down sizing.

Probably because people with a 1.2m house wouldn’t be able to get a 1.5m mortgage because they’re not rich enough.

zupro · 28/10/2025 08:06

The idea that you pay tax simply for owning a house is setting a new precedent.

What is stamp duty then?

Leavesfalling · 28/10/2025 08:04

MaturingCheeseball · 28/10/2025 07:58

Taxing £2m houses isn’t going to raise enough. That will be the gateway; who owns a £2m house? Hardly anybody so most of us will shrug. Until….. next it’s the £1m house. A bit less shrugging. But too many houses valued at £900k and then -tada! £500k + and of course a bit of garden tax thrown in to really shaft those pesky southerners.

Do you think northerners don't have gardens?

ArseInTheCoOpWindow · 28/10/2025 08:03

RosesAndHellebores · 28/10/2025 06:14

If tax is put on £2m properties, who will buy yhem when they go up for sale? If they prove unsaleabke, they won't be worth £2m any more. Another chip towards destroying the economic wellbeing of the entire country and not just the rich.

Last time this was threatened we moved out of London and bought a house that done up is worth less than £2m. That was nearly eleven years ago. Price increases in the last 11 years have been minimal compared to the orevious 10 and the 10 before that.

The market is beginning to correct. It's always cyclical. The last time was 1989/94. It doesn't need this level of misery imposed upon it althiugh I think there wouod be merot in scrapping stamp duty for downsizers. Space or value though?

The market has never ‘corrected’ anywhere I’ve lived. The prices keep going up. They don’t ‘correct’ in popular areas.

ShesTheAlbatross · 28/10/2025 08:02

AmethystAnnotation · 28/10/2025 07:48

I don't agree, because wages usually reflect where you live. Houses might be cheaper up North but people are paid less.

We could happily sell our 4 bed home and move somewhere else in the country and buy a 10 bed castle.

Well, do it then. Except there's a reason why you haven't - the 10 bed castle is in the arse end of nowhere.

If everyone upped sticks and moved to cheaper areas, then houses in those areas would become more expensive - basic supply and demand. But that won't happen because there aren't the jobs to support it.

No, the house price to average salary ratio is not the same. It’s much higher in London. 7.8 times average salary in London, 3.6 times average salary in Yorkshire.

MaturingCheeseball · 28/10/2025 07:58

Taxing £2m houses isn’t going to raise enough. That will be the gateway; who owns a £2m house? Hardly anybody so most of us will shrug. Until….. next it’s the £1m house. A bit less shrugging. But too many houses valued at £900k and then -tada! £500k + and of course a bit of garden tax thrown in to really shaft those pesky southerners.

Leavesfalling · 28/10/2025 07:56

Underthinker · 28/10/2025 07:48

Sorry this seems bonkers.
You're effectively saying as a house is only worth more due to being in london, then property taxes should be reduced. This represents a massive transfer of wealth from poorer areas to richer.
No different to saying my salary is only higher because I work in london, therefore my income tax should be lower than someone in Yorkshire.

I've always thought the opposite would help the north south divide. Bit off topic. Lower business rates, corporation tax and anything that might attract wealthy people to the North East (for example). The fair thing to do would be to set the basic rate of tax on houses and then lower it for impoverished regions.

Not advocating for a mansion tax btw.

Ddakji · 28/10/2025 07:56

Oblahdeeoblahdoe · 28/10/2025 03:37

Firstly, it's not Labour policy, more like paper talk, but your idea would only work if everything else was equal such as good public transport, education and other general services. There's a reason why people live in London and why the house prices are so high.

I live in London because it’s my home, I was born here and have lived here all my life. I also live in London because the industry I work in is predominantly based here.

1dayatatime · 28/10/2025 07:53

Lionfisher · 28/10/2025 07:40

The problem in this country is not inequality it’s that everyone wants someone else to pay. And they vote accordingly.

Or even better, just increase national debt so that our children and their children pay.

There is a great quote from Alexander Tyler late 1700s which I am fond of quoting:

"
A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy"

Leavesfalling · 28/10/2025 07:53

Attictroll · 28/10/2025 07:47

I just read the comments section on a Daily Mail article about this and was horrified by the fact people were so up in arms about this. The conservatives underfunded the nhs and schools and many other public services and paid for brexit the country is Fucked and needs resources for the basics …. In this situation a charge on those who have enormous houses seems fair. 2million…. I live in London and don’t know anyone who owns a house of that value. I can’t really see why people are describing this as communism. People can’t complain about the state of the Tory destroyed country and at the same time not be open to funding solutions. 2 million how many people even know someone with a house of that value.

I think the problem is that Labour want to control how people chose to spend their own money (a house, school fees, etc) and are willing to tax those that they deem have made decisions that aren't in accordance with socialist ideology.

But Labour then spend that taxpayers money on ridiculous things like the Chagos deal or paying train drivers even more. Which winds everyone up as it does nothing to improve things that you mention such as the NHS.

suburburban · 28/10/2025 07:51

Cleverchops · 28/10/2025 07:09

I’m not fine with it at all! We already pay a high council tax and are taxed in the highest bracket - this is totally unfair. We have done a lot of work to our house to increase its value and make a home that works for us - why should we have to pay another tax for that?
They are destroying the economy and now the housing market 😩
Still paying the mortgage this will be a step too far.
My graduate child is struggling to find a permanent job too - just a labour induced bloody mess as predicted!

Yes totally agree

the so and sos have already raised up the stamp duty last year

I don’t agree with the property tax

Marshmallow4545 · 28/10/2025 07:48

zupro · 28/10/2025 07:45

Half a million home owners are currently in negative equity. That's 8%.

So not millions as I said & they won't all have bought in the last 4 years.

Even if we just look at people that have made a loss on their houses. Why on earth should they be taxed on this? It's madness! Where is the moral case?

Moral case for what? I agree recent stamp duty payers should have an exemption. But are you arguing people should not pay a property tax if their home has lost value? Why not? It's not a given your home will keep increasing in value. That mindset is damaging

We normally only pay tax on profit. That's how the system is designed to work. You don't pay tax on investments that lose money or if you own a business on losses. You don't pay tax on money you have in the bank, only the internet earned.

The idea that you pay tax simply for owning a house is setting a new precedent. We already pay council tax for local services but this isn't about that. It's a wealth tax.

Underthinker · 28/10/2025 07:48

Lionfisher · 28/10/2025 07:19

You’ve totally validated my point. You’re comparing fundamentally different homes! A northerner in your case is not paying 4 times the tax relative to someone in the south because property doesn’t work that way.

They’re paying a rate relative to being worth 5 times the local threshold. In London it’s only 25% above the threshold as opposed to 400%!! The equivalent house in London would be £10m… so they’d pay MUCH more tax on the difference!!!

Sorry this seems bonkers.
You're effectively saying as a house is only worth more due to being in london, then property taxes should be reduced. This represents a massive transfer of wealth from poorer areas to richer.
No different to saying my salary is only higher because I work in london, therefore my income tax should be lower than someone in Yorkshire.

AmethystAnnotation · 28/10/2025 07:48

I don't agree, because wages usually reflect where you live. Houses might be cheaper up North but people are paid less.

We could happily sell our 4 bed home and move somewhere else in the country and buy a 10 bed castle.

Well, do it then. Except there's a reason why you haven't - the 10 bed castle is in the arse end of nowhere.

If everyone upped sticks and moved to cheaper areas, then houses in those areas would become more expensive - basic supply and demand. But that won't happen because there aren't the jobs to support it.

MrsOsprey · 28/10/2025 07:48

Lionfisher · 28/10/2025 07:40

The problem in this country is not inequality it’s that everyone wants someone else to pay. And they vote accordingly.

Labour massively messed up in promising not to raise income tax. They would still have won - albeit with a smaller majority - had they not done that. One of the reasons I stopped voting for them. I thought it wasn’t clever or realistic and they were just trying to appeal to former conservatives.

Lanva · 28/10/2025 07:47

Oh it's definitely inequality. The problem is that capital grows faster than the producing economy. So if you have a million pounds, use 150k to live on, what do you do with the rest? You buy assets, like houses. This drives the price of the house up and up until it is out of reach of anyone with income from wages. Over time, all the assets are bought up by the rich and the working people, which is most people (which is probably you too), cannot own anything.

This was the state of the world until WW2 and it's the state we are returning to now.

Attictroll · 28/10/2025 07:47

I just read the comments section on a Daily Mail article about this and was horrified by the fact people were so up in arms about this. The conservatives underfunded the nhs and schools and many other public services and paid for brexit the country is Fucked and needs resources for the basics …. In this situation a charge on those who have enormous houses seems fair. 2million…. I live in London and don’t know anyone who owns a house of that value. I can’t really see why people are describing this as communism. People can’t complain about the state of the Tory destroyed country and at the same time not be open to funding solutions. 2 million how many people even know someone with a house of that value.

Araminta1003 · 28/10/2025 07:45

They are down on housebuilding targets (majorly so) and the housing market is sluggish so housebuilders won’t want to build much more.
I doubt they can afford to interfere with the top level of the residential market and drive prices down further.
https://www.hbf.co.uk/news/sme-home-builders-blocked-by-soaring-costs-and-planning-delays-on-small-sites/
Example of kind of issues.
Rental market is a big problem too. Landlords selling up.

Essentially, everything is overregulated and overpriced and so there is no growth anymore.

So Labour flail around with symbolic rich hater taxes which drive the rich (internationals) away even more, leaving even less in the economy. It is daft, they need to deregulate.
Planning would benefit from AI as they do not have enough personnel. It is too slow.

zupro · 28/10/2025 07:45

Half a million home owners are currently in negative equity. That's 8%.

So not millions as I said & they won't all have bought in the last 4 years.

Even if we just look at people that have made a loss on their houses. Why on earth should they be taxed on this? It's madness! Where is the moral case?

Moral case for what? I agree recent stamp duty payers should have an exemption. But are you arguing people should not pay a property tax if their home has lost value? Why not? It's not a given your home will keep increasing in value. That mindset is damaging

MrsOsprey · 28/10/2025 07:41

I think it’s a terrible idea also unworkable and open to easy dodging. If it did come in I agree with you OP, it should be based on region, however that is defined, maybe council areas.

I think CGT is fairer on sale. Scrap stamp duty for anything under something like 2 million.

Actually moving wider tax talk (sorry if a derail). tax all income equally whether from work or passive. It can’t be right you can pay more tax working that income from other things, Get rid of the ability to reduce tax by salary sacrifice, I wonder how much tax income is lost by that. Equalise pension tax relief to a dingle rate. Get rid of NI and put into a single income tax. That would quieten the noise on pensioners not paying NI. Get rid of tax cliff edges for high earners. Massively increase state pension to the living wage - haha controversial I know but wouldn’t that extra income perhaps allow those who have a slightly higher - but not huge - value house to move (they may want to and would also pay CGT like everyone else). And they would pay tax the same as everyone else. Foreign owned house buyers - huge property tax please.

ChardonnaysBeastlyCat · 28/10/2025 07:41

Lanva · 28/10/2025 07:27

I don't think you quite grasp the situation this country is in.

Keep your big house and your five cars and your holidays. Make sure those Northerners don't get any of it, or any of those other groups you resent. Keep it all. Sit on it. Build a big fence around it all and put a man with a gun to guard it.

You will have to, because if we don't fix inequality this country will turn into Mexico, or South Africa, or Brazil. That's what happens to countries with no meaningful middle class. We all need to grow up a bit. We are in serious trouble.

Inequality will be fixed when there are jobs and when more people are in work.

This budget is not about this. It's punishing and will make everyone poorer.

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