Medal to Gordon Brown - Pollution Anarchist

If I wanted to acquire the crown as top global anarchist I ‘d have a hard time outdoing George Bush and George Brown.

It’s the latter of the two who gets my barb today. He thinks like a narrow minded accountant, oblivious to the consequences in his drive for other diverse sources of revenue.
Let’s example Stamp Duty on house purchases.
How do encourage people to commute long distances to work? Make the transaction costs of moving house too great a barrier.

Recall that stamp duty kicks in at 1 per cent for homes worth between £125,000 and £250,000, but leaps to 3 per cent for properties above this value. The top rate is 4 per cent and applies on properties bought for more than £500,000.

So I’ve got the new job in the next town should I move house? Let me do the sums. My £400,000 new house will cost £12,000 in stamp duty. Now it I commute the extra 15 miles every day at 40ppm for 200 days a years that’s only £2,400. So if I moved it would take 5 years recover my stamp duty from saved commute costs.

OK there’s other factors to this decision - the schools, wife’s job and soft furnishing etc. But hey, why let Stamp Duty be a deciding factor. Thus contributing to Britain’s every increasing congestion, air pollution and global warming.

WELL DONE GORDON BROWN. Medal of honor to you for your contribution to pollution.