I couldn’t have bought my first home without discounted stamp duty: This anti-growth tax has got to go, says HELEN CRANE

This week, I had my first anniversary of being a homeowner.

Although I was only alerted to this thanks to an automated email from my mortgage broker, it did feel like something to celebrate.

Getting on the housing ladder, for me and my partner, was a long-held ambition and the result of many years of hard saving.

However, we were also given a vital leg-up by the government, in the form of a stamp duty tax break.

We timed the purchase of our two-bed south London flat to take advantage of the reduced stamp duty threshold, which was in place between September 2022 and March 2025 – a bid by the then-Conservative government to inject growth into the economy.

It was crucial that we got in under this wire because, had we bought the flat after that, our stamp duty bill would have more than tripled.

This would have taken it from a highly inconvenient, but just about manageable, expense to one which would have completely derailed our plans, requiring at least another year of saving.

On the ladder: The higher stamp duty threshold that was in place between 2022 and 2025 gave many a financial boost when they moved home or bought their first property 

So I have to applaud Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who this week used her speech at the party conference to announce that the Tories would scrap stamp duty if they won the next election in 2029.

This would only apply to people buying a home to live in full-time, with landlords and holiday home buyers still on the hook.

Badenoch argued that stamp duty stifles social mobility, because the thought of paying the hated tax, which costs those who pay it an average of £4,582, makes people less likely to relocate for a new job or strive to move up the housing ladder.

The policy change, of course, relies on the Conservatives winning an election for which they are hardly the favourite at the moment.

Nonetheless, economists and property experts have gone wild for the idea, with Tom Clougherty, executive director of the Institute of Economic Affairs describing it as the ‘single best reform any government could make’ to the tax system.

While the Treasury’s coffers would take a hit – the tax is forecast to make it £26.5billion annually by the year 2029-30 – experts say much of this could be replaced by the economic halo effect that is set in motion when someone moves house.

Workers who move across the country for a new job with a pay rise contribute more in income tax.

Those who buy a new home tend to spend cash on furniture and white goods, which bring money back to the government in the form of corporation tax and VAT.

They’re also likely to do some repairs and renovations, from which the Treasury gains income tax and national insurance on tradespeople’s earnings.

I’ve certainly forked out plenty towards the latter in the last year, having suffered a broken boiler (twice), blocked drain and broken washing machine.

It’s true that stamp duty isn’t a concern for many first-time buyers. We are based in London, which is our choice, and the £300,000 threshold under which no stamp duty is currently paid is still reasonable in many parts of the country.

But with the average house price creeping ever-closer to that level at £298,184, according to Halifax figures, how long will it be until that is no longer the case?

And with many now buying well into their thirties and beyond, those in more affordable parts of the country might already need to go over the limit to get a home big enough for their current or future family.

When it comes to home movers, a growing number of middle-income families now pay the tax, thanks to house prices rising but the thresholds remaining the same.

Of course, it’s easy to make a bold statement about cutting stamp duty when you know you won’t have to act on it for almost four years – and even then, only if you secure a perhaps improbable election win.

But the wildly positive reaction to Badenoch’s announcement shows how strongly Britons feel about this unfair tax – and the spending power that could be unleashed if it was banished for good.