It is a crippling tax on moving – and when you penalise something by hiking its cost, you get less of it. Anybody who needs to move – to change job, to relocate closer to a new school for children, because they have got married or divorced – is getting hammered. Regular folk can no longer afford to climb the housing ladder in the same steady, gradual way, upgrading their homes as they seek a better life. Instead, they need to remain far too long in existing homes before attempting to jump up several rungs in one go.