UK’s Tax Relief for New Stocks Spurs Hope for Permanent Fix

Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s plan to give newly listed companies on the London Stock Exchange a three-year exemption on stamp duty tax was welcomed by City of London executives as a step to boosting the capital markets, though they would rather it be scrapped altogether.

Investors buying shares in companies on the LSE will not need to pay a 0.5% stamp duty reserve tax for the first three years after they list, Reeves announced in the budget on Wednesday, and the government said in an online statement that it would review stamp duty on shares to make sure the UK remains competitive in its capital markets.