SolutionsIt should be repealed and replaced with an annual land value tax . It should be payable by the seller , not the buyer . It should not exist . You ' ve already paid tax at source on the money that you are spending on a house , its a pernicious doubletax . And as for a landtax , this would just put property even further out of buyers ' reaches . I ' d maybe accept some sort of taxation on the price delta , so whoever is selling the higher priced property pays some sort of tax on the difference between the two , but even that would be a stretch . Buyers , especially first time buyers , are put in a severe spotEveryone is . I know people who would like to move some upsizing and some downsizing but they can ' t afford the hit from the stamp duty . Its particularly stupid where people who want to move and downsize , freeing up housing startermidsize housing stock that we badly need , can ' t do so because of this tax . Off the top of my head I can think of half a dozen people I know who would like to downsize and free up cash , but won ' t as they ' d lose a chunk of it to stamp duty . We want mobility in the housing market , so that people are living in the sizes of house that they need and not being stuck in housing that isn ' t suitable , and stamp duty impacts this .