§ Mr. Boscawenasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what would be the cost of removing stamp duty on the purchase of houses of the value up to £5,000, £7,500, £10,000, £15,000 and £20,000.
§ Mr. Robert Sheldon, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 4th May 1978; Vol. 949, c. 250], gave the following answer:
Stamp duty is not currently chargeable on the purchase of a house with a value of £15,000 or less. The estimated cost of abolishing stamp duty on purchases of houses valued at between £15,000 and £20,000 is about £18 million, assuming that scales of duty remained otherwise unchanged.