Meeting of the Parliament 08 March 2016
No. That is not the Government’s advice. The Government’s advice to solicitors is to comply with the legislation, as I would expect them to do. However, we will monitor the evidence as it emerges in the handling of this issue.
It is important that we review the impact of the land and buildings transaction tax supplement, and I am aware of a number of calls for an early review to be carried out. I certainly agree with the comments made by the Finance Committee in its stage 1 report that
“developing an understanding of the impact of the supplement will be complex and will take time”.
To ensure a meaningful and constructive review, I firmly believe that reviewing the impact of the supplement will require at least one complete year of data, given the seasonality in housing transactions, the likely forestalling behaviours and the longer-term trends in the housing market. The Scottish Government intends to update Parliament on the outcome of that review in the 2018-19 draft budget, in accordance with our undertaking in the written agreement on the budget process.
I move,
That the Parliament agrees that the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill be passed.
14:53