Why should I have to pay a huge amount of stamp duty tax to move closer to work[1]? Why should I get punished by a huge mortgage to do so because of a dysfuncti

Why should I have to pay a huge amount of stamp duty tax to move closer to work[1]? Why should I get punished by a huge mortgage to do so because of a dysfunctional housing market[2]? For that matter, and actually I don't really think this one, I pay taxes willingly build this stuff, why should I pay for central-city public transport when I don't even commute from or to a central urban area[3]? Anyone can say things like that. If move if I could, and originally planned to when I took the job. I can't afford it now. I'd cycle if I could (and I used to, for years, at a different job, over 20 miles a day). I'd take public transport if I could. In fact, a promised train timetable cadence increase factored into moving into where I live now. It was quietly cancelled years ago. [1]: while I think stamp duty is a regressive tax that also prevents labour mobility and is in general a bad idea, it's especially bad when combined with inflating house prices (price to earnings ratio is now the highest in recorded history) that push everything around into higher bands. [2]: I actually don't really think the current interest rates themselves are necessarily bad, there are benefits to higher rates. But housing being so incredibly expensive makes such rates punishing. 6% on 100k is one thing. 6% on 250k is very different. [3]: funnily enough, though my current commute passes only a couple of miles of suburbs and the rest of it is motorway ending in an extra-urban business park, the public transport option involves trains going directly through urban cores of two cities and past rather a lot more houses. In fact, a different rail line goes within 100m of me: so why do I need to listen to those commuters? (Again, I don't actually think this).