Mortgage Interest Relief At Source

Mortgage Interest Relief at Source, or MIRAS, was a scheme introduced in the United Kingdom by Chancellor of the Exchequer Roy Jenkins in 1969 ^[1] in a bid to encourage home ownership; it allowed borrowers tax relief for interest payments on their mortgage.

In the 1983 Budget Geoffrey Howe raised the tax allowance from £25,000 to £30,000; unmarried couples with joint mortgages could pool their allowances to £60,000 and this remained unchanged until in the 1988 Budget, when Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson ended the option to pool allowances (a provision that had been known as Multiple Mortgage Tax Relief) from August 1988, a decision he later publicly expressed regret at not having implemented with effect from the time of the budget, as it is generally accepted that the rush to beat the deadline from the time of the Budget up until it was ended fueled a sharp increase in house prices.^[2]

MIRAS was completely abolished in April 2000 by then Chancellor of the Exchequer (now retired Prime Minister) Gordon Brown who argued it had become a middle class perk.

Receiving MIRAS was one of the justifications given by mortgage advisers when selling endowment mortgages.^{[citation needed]}

With house prices slumping and the British economy going into recession, there are many^[who?] arguing for the return of some kind of similar scheme to help those in negative equity and encourage a revival in the housing market.

References

1. ^ Is it time for the return of Miras?, Times Online, 21 November 2008
2. ^ Bank of England Statistics Diary January 2007, Bank of England, January 2007

See also

• UK mortgage terminology