The Chancellor has unveiled an election Family Home Tax Guarantee, where stamp duty and capital gains will not be raised over the next five years — while council tax bands will not be revalued or added.
Jeremy Hunt, writing for The Telegraph, has challenged the Labour Party leadership to match this pledge.
“I am throwing down the gauntlet to [shadow chancellor] Rachel Reeves and [Labour leader] Sir Keir Starmer to join us in this pledge,” Hunt writes.
He adds: “I actually want to see the Labour Party say they will put families first and higher taxes second.”
The move follows Rishi Sunak and Starmer clashing in an ITV debate earlier this week, after the Prime Minister said Labour would raise family taxes by £2,000 if it won power at the 4 July general election.
Hunt says: “Labour’s philosophy depends on grabbing ever more of that money to feed an expanding public sector.
“At this election, Sir Keir Starmer is telling you otherwise. He is trying to claim that Labour has changed. They haven’t.”
Homebuyers currently pay stamp duty if their home costs more than £250,000.
Next March this will drop to £125,000 – taking the tax bill on an average-priced home in England from £2,386 to £4,886.
First-time buyers currently pay the levy if their home costs more than £425,000, which is set to drop to £300,000 in March next year.
In the March Spring Budget, Hunt cut capital gains tax to 24% from 28% for higher or additional rate taxpayers selling a residential property from 6 April.
Council tax bands in England are based on what the value of a home would have been on 1 April 1991.
They currently range from A (a property under £40,000) to H (a property above £320,000).
A Labour spokesman says: “We will not be raising taxes on working people.
“The Conservatives cannot be trusted on tax and taxes are at a 70-year high on their watch.
“These are more desperate claims from Rishi Sunak who lied to the British people before and is lying to them again.”
