Government income from residential stamp duty has risen nine-fold over the past 10 years, according to a survey by Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBS).

Increasing house prices have seen revenue go up from £465m in 1993-94 to £4.3bn in the current tax year. The HBS survey recorded that 81% of respondents felt that the current tax regime was unfair on first-time buyers.

Martin Ellis, chief economist at HBS, said: “Housing activity is an important part of the UK economy, and it is right that a government should take its fair share of tax revenue from it.”

He continued: “Fairness is a two-way street, however, and unfortunately successive governments have failed to play fair by homeowners by declining to link the stamp duty threshold to rising house prices.”