Speaking: Stock Exchange boss Julia Hoggett called the tax “pernicious”
An influential city group has called on the next government to review stamp duty on shares within 100 days of coming to power.
TheCityUK said the tax “places the UK at a competitive disadvantage” as it listed its demands ahead of next month’s election.
Tax reform could boost investment in London-listed shares at a crucial time for the stock market, the financial services body said.
The group joins a chorus of city heavyweights who have called for the tax to be scrapped.
The tax charges investors 0.5 percent when they buy British shares, but nothing if they invest money in foreign companies.
Earlier this week, the head of the Investment Association said removing stamp duty on shares was an “obvious” way to boost UK shares.
“It is one of the highest in the world and reform would bring greater appeal to the market,” said Chris Cummings, chief executive of the trade management body.
Meanwhile, London Stock Exchange boss Julia Hoggett has described the tax as “pernicious” and former Abrdn director Stephen Bird has said it is “as unpatriotic as it is economically destructive”.
The tax has been blamed for contributing to the decline of the weakened London stock market, which has suffered a flood of takeover bids and departures from companies to list in the United States.
A spokesperson for TheCityUK said the next government should “review the future of trade stamp duty to incentivize greater UK institutional and retail investment in UK shares”. The spokesperson said: “As a direct tax on liquidity, it places the UK at a competitive disadvantage.”
Other recommendations for the first 100 days include encouraging greater UK investment in shares of UK companies and developing a strategic plan to boost economic growth.
TheCityUK chief executive Miles Celic said: ‘Financial and related professional services are the pulse of the UK economy.
‘The industry is a major national employer, supporting people at every stage of their life and is an enabler of growth across economies.
“We want to see a new era of policy certainty and collaboration between government and industry to ensure they can make an even greater contribution to driving investment, innovation and growth across the country.”