Anti-tax change petition gets 47,000 signatures with four weeks to go

An online petition seeking the reversal of the Osborne clampdown on buy to let tax breaks has secured around 47,000 signatures - but still needs more than the same number again if it is to stand a chance of forcing MPs to even debate the issue.

The petition - here - was created in response to the Chancellor’s clampdown announced back in the summer. It needs 100,000 signatures by January 27 if it is to oblige MPs to consider a debate, although this does not of course mean the clampdown will be reversed.

The petition is part of the broader Say No to George campaign which has now updated its website to include opposition to more recent announcements by the government, including the additional three per cent stamp duty surcharge on the purchase of homes by buy to let investors, which comes into effect in April.

Two Peterborough-based property developers are behind the site, which launched in August with the intention of showing how detrimental George Osborne’s proposed buy to let tax changes will be in their opinion. 

One of the developers, John McKay, told Letting Agent Today: “The Chancellor has made an outrageous attack on property people, many of whom voted for the Conservatives in the election. What he seems to not understand, or care about, is how this change will necessitate increased rents and/or cause hundreds of thousands of people to be made homeless.”