Section 24 tax petition struggles for support with month to go

The Section 24 parliamentary petition, seeking to persuade MPs to reinstate mortgage interest tax relief for landlords, is still struggling for signatures.

The petition, from Midlands landlord Simon J Foster, urges the government to reverse the Section 24 tax change. 

Before Section 24 was introduced in 2017, landlords were able to deduct mortgage interest from their income tax - at that time it was also possible to offset mortgage application fees and some other loans. 

Now tax is payable on all rental income upfront, even if - combined with an income from a traditional job - it moves the landlord into a higher tax bracket. Instead, landlords now have only a basic rate reduction from their income tax liability for their finance costs of 20 per cent.

So far the petition still has fewer than 40,000 signatures despite widespread publicity in the trade press and amongst some industry groups.

In the New Year the government made an official response to the petition, insisting its tax policy was fair and had to be seen not only in the context of landlords but as part of tax policy across the housing market.

If the petition reaches 100,000 signatures by its closing date of May 10 it would be likely - although not guaranteed - that there would be a Parliamentary debate on the subject.

You can sign the petition here: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/627785

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