Stamp Out Stamp Duty campaign gains momentum

An online campaign pushing for stamp duty to be scrapped is gaining momentum.   
The 'Stamp Out Stamp Duty' campaign, launched by the Taxpayers Alliance (TPA) in order to make buying a home more affordable, has received plenty of mainstream media attention in the last couple of days.
Matthew Sinclair, who is the chief executive of the TPA has been speaking to dozens of national newspapers explaining why this property tax should be eliminated.   
In an interview with express.co.uk, he said: "Ministers have done nothing to ease the burden imposed by stamp duty, which is an unfair double tax that gets in the way of would-be first time buyers and others thinking about moving.   
"Instead, they have made things worse with new thresholds and new higher rate. The government needs to act on ministers' rhetoric about getting people onto the property ladder and cut this unfair tax."    
More than £4 billion of stamp duty was paid into the government's coffers in the 2012/13 tax year.    
According to yahoo.com, more than a quarter of the 723,829 homes bought in this period were subjected to the higher rate of stamp duty, which currently stands at three per cent. However, only six per cent of buyers in the North East had to pay this rate.