Monday, Aug 11, 2008
You couldn't make it up - or could you!
Times: Treasury fury at No 10 as estate agents demand talks on stamp duty
National Association of Estate Agents spit their dummies out and the glubberment i.e. Mr Brown is also considering a one-off windfall payment, of up to £150, for seven million families in receipt of child benefit struggling to pay fuel bills this winter. Info leaked courtesy of Sir Brian Bender (real name) , Permanent Secretary to the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, who was overheard discussing the plans in front of fellow passengers on a GNER train between Leeds and London.
Posted by enuii @ 12:29 AM (1235 views) Add Comment
13 Comments
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1. Eternal Sceptic said...
It makes a refreshing change to hear of accidental leaks. I wonder who could spit their dummy the furthest?
2. nooneo said...
Ho, Ho, Ho.... It's like Chistmas almost every day recently.
Stamp duty holiday non announcements.....extra payments to the benefit millions......Tax free savings for those who want to buy in a falling (like a stone) market...... Nationalising banks..... Releasing foot and mouth..... Cancelled general election..... Dithering made a new olympic sport..... No plotting in the ranks Miliband....... Telling those naughty sheiks they had better make oil cheaper..... Sound fundementals... low interest rates.....blah, blah, blah
I'm not sure I can take much more.....I'm off to bed now. Can't wait until the radio wakes me tommorrow, wonder what gems the 'Today' team will have me chuckling over before I even get me boxers on....
3. paul said...
Just as we predicted.
This issue hasn't made a jot of difference to the housing market which is in terminal decline, but estate agents are trying to use the incident as ammunition to get the government to rescue them.
EAs are so predictable. No wonder many of them are ex-convicts - they were the ones stupid enough to get caught!
4. Orcusmaximus said...
Windfall payment, of up to £150? Why not go the whole hog and give all of the taxes paid by the tax payers to the non-tax payers!
A better solution would be a complete ban on cigarettes, or impose a rationing system. That will save these families maybe as much as £150 pounds a week! And save the NHS a bundle as well, more than would be lost by the tax paid on cigarettes, so this would be at little or no cost to the taxpayer. Silly me - this might cost a few votes so will never happen.
5. tyrellcorporation said...
Too bad if you haven't got kids eh?
6. paul said...
Yeah, that too tyrell.
Single people are being made to pay for families with children out of their tax pounds.
Robbing the poor to pay the rich again.
7. Orwell said...
I see this as a stand down. Rather like a truculent three year old. I want I want I want I want ... otherwise I am going to wet myself... LOL!
8. Panda said...
It's exactly as I said. The whole issue of temporarily removing stamp duty was discussed in cabinet earlier this year. The idea was to let a few thousand suckers buy houses while they were obviously "just" falling. I don't know how policy has changed now they are falling at the current rate, but presumably the rationale is that the stamp duty "thing" is easier than the wholesale demolition of housing estates (which, by the way, has many supporters in both sides of the "house" and is a very serious plan if nothing else works). Note that I said "housing", not "council". The difference is important.
Anyway, it's on track for the later part of this year and, and is a suspension of the payment. In other words, you DON'T pay if back later.
Hope that's clear.
There are also plans for one off grants for 1st time home buyers, and they are CONSIDERABLY in excess of that derisory sum of 150 pounds or whatever it was mentioned above. Again, this was to be at the end of the year, but my information is now that this has been shelved for public consumption next year. But early enough for a spring bounce.
9. jack c said...
@tyrellcorporation/paul -in relation to a possible one-off windfall payment for those in receipt of CB. Legal immigrants working in Britain receive child benefit which they then (legitimately under the system) send back to their families (as an example and purely as an example - Poland) - where is ther fairness in this half baked Gov idea? in relation to those not in receipt of CB eg Single people, co-habiting couples (no Kids) Married couples (no Kids) or those with children still at home but not in receipt of CB.
Have to agree with a comment made by S2R1 on a thread last week along the lines of "wake up guy's the Gov are taking the p**s"
10. peter_2008 said...
"one in four estate agents had seen agreed house sales fall through as a direct result of the uncertainty?" so that's another -25% on transaction. How long before we see EA's blood on street?
11. maddison said...
In Australia the Government give FTBs some $5000 dollars or something like that
12. Panda said...
Yes, they do, and the "copycat" instinct in the UK govmint is still very much alive. The figure quoted to me was much higher than that ($5000), which makes us wonder. But the main concern would appear to be getting buying chains back in operation, which, if you remember, was the first symptom of distress in the market, and crucially, the first actually observed mechanism for driving prices downwards early last year.
I overheard the language used to describe first time buyers by one minister, and it was absolutely unreproducible on this web page.
13. Stevie Dee said...
#12.. spit it out then..