Budget 2012: Zac Goldsmith's estate held in type of scheme affected by stamp duty changes | Politics | The Guardian

Budget 2012: Zac Goldsmith's estate held in type of scheme affected by stamp duty changes | Politics | The Guardian

Zac Goldsmith, the Conservative MP for Richmond Park, has emerged as one of the millionaires using the arcane property ownership structures criticised by the chancellor in his budget speech.

The son of the late billionaire Sir James Goldsmith owns a £7m 543-acre Devon estate via a Cayman Islands company called Ranger Investments.

Until the chancellor George Osborne's budget crackdown on Wednesday, anyone buying property held by offshore vehicles could avoid stamp duty by acquiring a company's shares rather than purchasing the property directly