THE Chancellor’s reform of stamp duty has been slated by a leading Dorset property firm as unfair to businesses.

George Osborne’s changes to the tax were broadly welcomed but only applied to residential buyers.

The Chancellor said in his Autumn Statement earlier this month that stamp duty was a ‘tax on aspiration’ and he would remove the ‘cliff edges’ which distorted the property market.

But Marcus Andrews, of property specialist Goadsby, said the reforms would disadvantage businesses.

He said: “Commercial property still has to endure the old system. So for example on a £260,000 purchase, a businessman will pay over 2.5 times more ‘tax’ than a house buyer – this is not fair.”

Under the old stamp duty system, the entire property price was subject to a tax based on the value of the property. So if a property was bought for £1 more than the band limit, the higher rate would apply to the whole price.

For home buyers, the duty will now be tiered like income tax.

A home bought for £260,000 under the old rules would have been subject to stamp duty of three per cent, resulting in a bill of £7,800.

Under the new rules, the bill for the same property would be £3,000, but businesses would still pay the old rate.

Mr Andrews said: “The Chancellor, in talking up the fairer system for house buyers, is telling the business community he doesn’t care if they pay more tax than they should. “It does nothing to re-invigorate the commercial property market.”