Professor John FitzGerald:

It would be paid to Revenue and one could give the money back when the steam was taken out of the property market by getting rid of it. In terms of the reaction to it, people said, "You are quite mad. Politically this is impossible." It is one of the reasons that at a European level, central banks have been made independent. It is extremely difficult for governments to raise interest rates to do exactly this. That was one instrument. There are other instruments.