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Should the UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt cut share taxes in the upcoming spring budget
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Leading figures in the City of London certainly think so. They have called them the Chancellor to cut taxes on buying shares with the aim of boosting London's capital markets and supporting growth in the city
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With concerns growing about how competitive the City of London is and the UK sluggish economic performance
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new research suggests that abolishing the Levi in the spring budget could increase long-run GDP by somewhere between 0.2 and 0.7
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The research, commissioned by the Center for Policy Studies and undertaken by independent consultancy, OXERRA, found that scraping the tax could increase the overall tax take by around 600 million pounds due to its positive impact on growth
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Furthermore, the research found that the UK were to abolish the tax, it could lead to a nearly 7 billion pound increase in business investments from Futsi-listed firms
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According to Robert Colville, Director of the Center for Policy Studies, the Stamp Duty is a tax on growth, it is bad for savers, bad for growth, and ultimately bad for Britain
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Stamp Duty imposes a 0.5% cost on the purchase price of shares, which critics argue puts off international investors
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Most international rivals do not have a similar tax, and, where they do, it is collected at a much lower level
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The tax brings in about 3 billion pounds to their treasury A number of top leaders in the city agreed that Jeremy Hunt should cut the tax to boost investments in London
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The chief executive of the city UK said that keeping stamp duty on shares has acted as a
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self-imposed set of manacles. He believes it has undermined the UK's competitiveness as one of the world's leading international
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financial centers. Furthermore, a chief economist at Eberdeen pointed out the potential impact of removing
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stamp duty was larger now than in the past, as other transaction costs have fallen
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And it's been pretty clear that reinvigorating the city has been a major policy
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objective for the Conservative over the past few months. Over the weekend, Jeremy Hunt announced new plans to force pension funds to reveal how much
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of their cash is invested in UK companies in a bid to funnel more domestic capital into
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London-listed firms. Hunt is also reportedly considering introducing a British ISA or individual saving accounts in the
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spring budget which would allow retail investors to buy UK-laced shares without paying
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tax. Charles Hall had a research at Peel Hunt so the government could put
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together a really meaningful package of city reforms if scrapping stamp duty went
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alongside a British ISA and reformed subpension funds. He thinks that it seems so
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obvious that it shouldn't be a debate. But what do you think? We here at City
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Ann would like to know what are your predictions for the spring budget. Should Jeremy Hunt cut share taxes? Let us know your thoughts on the
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