AIBU to think a £2m homeowner should pay mansion tax?

[LadyJos]

Anyone read the Telegraph Article about the 93 year-old man paying mansion tax on his £2m Richmond Home he bought for £15,000? AIBU but isn't £15,000 to £2m a fairly good return over 60 years, and shouldn't he pay some tax at the end? I can't help thinking since the home is mortgage-free, he has options here to pay the £2500 a year...
‘I’m a 91-year-old veteran about to be dragged into mansion tax. This is wrong’
www.telegraph.co.uk/money/property/house-prices/91-year-old-about-dragged-into-mansion-tax/

Well if you feel so strongly about redistribution of wealth, sell your house, buy a new one and pay the stamp duty on it, then you will have done your bit.

The problem is, a like for like house will be £675K so where do you find the £21,250 stamp duty money.

I think it's more like of she is happy about it she should be happy to pay the Council Tax due. Which presumably she is and does.

Equity release is an absolute money making scam, that rips off people in desperate positions.

The only winner is the ER company.

Funny how those in favour won't be stung for massive tax bills.

It's very easy to spend someone else's money

You're trying to make a sensible argument to people who can't understand a sensible argument.

Tax income.
Have more people having their own income.
Stop spending other people's money so wastefully.

Wes Streeting said on the news today he tackled NHS waste whilst he was in charge. If someone would like to provide evidence of that it'd be great.

Do well in life. Get taxed to the hilt on PAYE income (60% effective marginal tax rate)..pay for the benefits bill.. pay stamp duty when you buy a house and then continue to pay tax for the right to live in your home. And when you want to leave it to your kids you get whacked with IHT.

Well I have £21k for stamp duty, so that wouldn’t be an issue.

i don’t want to move house though, and don’t need to since I can easily afford all the costs associated with it. If new costs come in, I shall reconsider 😀

from Rightmove -

House prices in Central London have an overall average of £1,254,404 over the last year.
The majority of properties sold in Central London during the last year were flats, selling for an average price of £1,065,048. Terraced properties sold for an average of £3,308,645, with detached properties fetching £2,302,963.
Overall, the historical sold prices in Central London over the last year were 25% down on the previous year and 37% down on the 2022 peak of £2,000,868.

"We’re living on our pensions, which aren’t going to go up above inflation. I bought an annuity, and it’s not going to leave us destitute. But it will be much worse for others and I think it’s morally wrong."

So reading between the lines, he's fine. Especially as he has a pension rising with inflation. I don't grudge him that, but that's a guarantee salaries don't have. Plus ironically one of the calculations for inflation is the cost of houses/land so the same forces pushing his house price up also pushed up inflation which pushes up his overall income. He's fine.

Average sold price, and even then well short of £2m. The 90 year old didn’t buy his house last year. The poster said that the average house in London was £2m.
Just like apparently half of people live in houses or bunglows but the majority of sold properties are flats… the evidence isn’t really working.

House prices vary. 🙄. Most house rise in value. Perhaps the government should tax it.

Most equity release schemes charge you commercial interest rates on the amount released. So borrowing a massive lump sum in one go via equity release to fund future tax demands and paying interest on the whole lot from day 1 would be a really expensive way of paying the tax.
Better to not pay it at all and die with the estate owing only the tax plus interest on each payment from the date it was due.

Is tax variable according to age? What a weird post.

I must be missing something? A house is subject to SDLT everytime there is a transaction?

So would I! Or have you voluntarily paid tax on gains from your own home sales over your life

People seem to assume cost of bins and streetlights should vary with income

The people who think they are entitled to everyone else's money are getting tiresome, these people are bitter and miserly, wanting everything through jealousy. Imagine, people being bitter that a property has gone up in value and complaining that the homeowner didn't earn it then the people who don't have a property to inherit want that money too, despite never earning it either.

He'll pay inheritance tax and council tax. Stop coming after people's property.

But as I said, who would be jealous of someone who can’t access £2.5k?

I agree.

The quality of life achievable in the UK (and particularly London where these kinds of salaries broadly exist) is…. really quite underwhelming.

It makes us very uncompetitive as a nation, so many people I know are going back to their home countries because the lifestyle they can afford in London no longer makes it worth it.

So basically…live as a member of a functioning society?

I don’t (and never will) have children and I don’t begrudge paying for schools, maternity units, tax credits, children’s centres etc. Why? Because the world doesn’t revolve around me, and if I want to be treated decently I have to reciprocate.

Why do so many people’s morals fly out the window when they get their hands on a bit of cash?

I don't think in general, people mind contributing to those things, its the extent to which they are being asked that people find objectionable,

Property ownership especially in places like London needs drastic reform, granted, but he's had money from the start - he and his wife. They were able to buy the house as newlyweds - who the hell can do that these days?! and have been able to afford to make numerous improvements to this house over the years. It's in Richmond, ffs.

He's had a comfortable life living in an expensive area in one of the most expensive cities in the world and he now grudges this pittance of 2.5 k a year.

Tax this rich old man.

But it’s proportional. That poster is going on about PAYE tax. It’s a proportional tax. Stamp duty is a proportional tax. And I personally think council tax should become a proportional tax based on the property value. Just like it was when it was first introduced-it just needs updating. So what’s the problem? Greed.

You are not talking about the same thing. All our tax go towards the same things than yours do. We all pay tax.

It's become unfair and unacceptable when you pay twice, but then you pay AGAIN on the amount already taxed, and then AGAIN, because suddenly there's a mansion tax, and inheritance tax etc. You pay tax multiple times on the same amount of earning.

Might as well being taxed on your holidays next? To have a special "holiday" tax?

Presumably he and his wife paid tax all their working lives, and presumably at a higher rate if he owns a £2m house.

Why should he now be forced to sell the house he has worked for and paid for, especially given his vulnerable age?