Figures from the Institute for Fiscal Studies show it would cost around £4.5bn to axe the tax as it stands, but the Conservatives offered a “cautious” estimate that it would cost £9bn by the end of the decade.
The party said this would be paid for out of a £47bn pot of savings shadow ministers claim to have found, made up of welfare cuts, downsizing the civil service and further slashing the country’s foreign aid budget.
In her speech, Ms Badenoch said: “The next Conservative government will abolish stamp duty on your home. It will be gone.
“That is how we will help achieve the dream of home ownership for millions.”
Ms Badenoch also vowed that the Conservatives will undo a series of Labour tax hikes they have campaigned against.
Most notable was the promise to undo the government’s changes to inheritance tax on family farms, dubbed the tractor tax.
Also for the chop under a Tory government is Labour’s levy of VAT on private school fees, which Ms Badenoch said was a “vindictive tax on education”.
These too would be funded from its £47bn savings pot.
All of these pledges may well have gone down well with the few faithful who were there to hear the speech but there are real questions about the proposed spending cuts that are meant to fund them, not least being that if it is that easy, why didn't the last Tory government implement them when they had the chance? Why didn't they abolish stamp duty if that is what they believe is necessary?
I can't help thinking that the savings figure was plucked out of thin air rather the result of detailed research.
This is Trussian economics at its worse, unfunded promises that will crash the economy, while benefitting the better off in society, in this case the owners of expensive homes.
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