PROPOSALS which would bring in a “mansion tax” for Scottish property sales have been lodged at Holyrood.
The Scottish Greens have tabled a change to the SNP Government’s Housing Bill in order to bring in the new top tax rate for properties which sell for more than £1 million.
As it stands, Scotland levies a Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) on residential property sales above £145,000.
For homes between £145,001 and £250,000, a 2% rate is paid, which goes up to 5% for properties between £250,001 to £325,000, and 10% for sales worth £325,001 to £750,000.
The current top rate of 12% is charged on properties sold for more than £750,000.
The Green's "mansion tax" amendment to the Housing Bill would leave those bands unchanged while adding another: a tax rate of 15% on residential sales worth more than £1m.
Other amendments tables by the Greens would create an additional charge for overseas buyers of Scottish properties, and allow councils to further increase council tax on holiday homes.
The Housing Bill – which is intended to change cover protections for tenants and allow for rent control zones to be set up – is currently at stage two in the Scottish Parliament and the deadline for amendments is Wednesday, April 23.
The West of Scotland representative went on: “There is more than enough wealth in Scotland to end injustices like child poverty tomorrow, but far too much of it is in the hands of a very small number of extremely rich people and big companies.
“The powers needed to tax them fairly mostly sit at Westminster rather than Holyrood, but we can use tools like Scottish property taxes to make sure the richest people in society pay a bit more when they are buying a new house.”
In December, the tax charged for purchases of a second or subsequent home – the Additional Dwelling Supplement (ADS) – rose from 6% to 8%, a change which the Greens had pushed for.
Greer added: “The Scottish Greens have already delivered an income tax system for Scotland which raises £1.7 billion more every year for public services like our schools and NHS. If we want to protect these services though, we need to go further.”
Aditi Jehangir, the chair of the tenants’ union Living Rent, told The National that they backed the mansion tax proposals.
“If you can afford a million-pound mansion, you can afford to pay a little more tax,” Jehangir said. “The wealthiest in our society need to contribute more to the public purse.
“When just 2% of people in Scotland own nearly a quarter of its wealth and at the same time three in 10 adults would fall below the poverty line in the event of a loss of income, the situation needs to change.
“A mansion tax would be a good place to start in order to shift wealth away from a few wealthy individuals towards improving our public services for all.
“No one should be raking it in whilst the poorest in our country can barely get by. The money exists, it's time that our politicians take bold action and deliver a mansion tax to improve our public services for all.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We have taken a progressive approach to the setting of rates and bands for residential LBTT reflecting the specifics of the Scottish housing market.
"Our approach helps prioritise support for first-time buyers and home movers as they move through the market while also raising vital revenue to support public services.”
