Leading economist slams 'myth' that landlords are under

Up to one million additional homes will be required to accommodate growing rental demand by 2031

Tax hikes for landlords will be damaging to the economy and are based on a lack of understanding about investors, according to a leading economist.

Paul Johnson, the former head of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said that the UK “need[s] to think very carefully about how to tax housing and how to tax rental housing.”

“The first myth to bust is the idea… that somehow landlords are under-taxed relative to owner-occupiers, which is complete nonsense,” he said in “Listen up Landlords”, the National Residential Landlords Association’s (NRLA) podcast.

“If you make it more expensive to be a landlord, then there will be some combination of fewer landlords and higher rent,” he added.

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