Rejected petition Tax 40% on the sale of a existing second home in Wales if the sale is going to leave Wales.

Why was this petition rejected?

It asks the Senedd to do something that it is not able to do.

You have outlined that you would envisage the tax being payable by somebody selling an existing second home, if they sold it to someone who was not resident in Wales.

Any new tax would be required to be compatible with other laws, including the Equality Act 2010. This outlines ‘indirect discrimination’ as occurring when a policy or practice is put in place which applies in the same way for everyone but disadvantages a certain group of people who share a protected characteristic. The protected characteristic of ‘race’ is defined under section 9(1) the 2010 Act as including ‘nationality’ and ‘national origins’.

A tax based on where the buyer of a property is from would amount to indirect discrimination, as buyers from outside Wales would be at a disadvantage to buyers within Wales.

As a result, it is not possible for the Senedd to take the action called for by your petition.

We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards

Rejected petitions are published in the language in which they were submitted