It was claimed that the levy would help first-time buyers by dampening the investor market

A tax designed to clip the wings of landlords and second home-buyers has raised billions of pounds more than the Treasury estimated but caught thousands who are not property investors.

HMRC figures seen by The Times show that the 3 per cent stamp duty surcharge on additional properties, introduced in 2016 by George Osborne when he was chancellor, had raised £6.6 billion by the end of last year. The Treasury originally put the target at £2.9 billion by the end of the 2019-20 tax year.

Mr Osborne claimed that the levy, paid by a property purchaser on top of existing stamp duty, would help first-time buyers by dampening the investor market. Last night experts called the charge, which has hit nearly one million purchases in