HC Deb 11 December 1962 vol 669 c55W
Mr. W. Clark

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what would be the cost to the Exchequer if stamp duty on shares, etc., was reduced from 2 per cent. to 1 per cent.; if it was abolished on all transactions where the transfer amount did not exceed £100; and if it was abolished altogether.

Mr. Barber

The cost of reducing the duty on share transfers from 2 per cent. to 1 per cent. would be nearly £25 million in a full year and the cost of abolishing it would be nearly £50 million. It is not possible to estimate the cost of abolishing the duty on all transactions where the consideration did not exceed £100 since there would be no effective means of ensuring that

GROSS FIXED INVESTMENT AS A PROPORTION OF GROSS NATIONAL PRODUCT AT FACTOR COST
1957 1958 1959 1960 1961
United Kingdom 17.4 17.2 17.5 18.3 19.0
West Germany 25.3 25.5 26.8 27.7 29.1
Italy 24.4 23.1 23.6 25.3 26.3
France 22.3 21.7 21.2 20.7 21.2
Japan 29.2 29.7 31.0 34.8 n.a.
Norway 31.8 36.0 32.5 31.3 32.8
Sweden 21.7 22.8 23.9 24.5 24.8
United States of America 19.0 17.8 18.3 18.0 17.4