Madam, - As usual, an interesting piece by John Waters (Opinion, February 5th), this time on the matter of "stamp duty" on private houses - as this blatant rip-off on home-buying citizens is called.
When people change jobs, as can occur for many reasons, they are faced with the choice of re-locating or commuting, if the new job is within a reasonable distance of home.
A big factor in this decision is the price of a new property, which will include the add-on stamp duty and, of course, legal fees. So in many cases, people decide to stay where they are and just buy a new (and bigger?) car. And so we have the totally unmanageable traffic congestion.
Do we know where we are going? I don't think so. - Yours, etc,
JOHN NEWMAN, Glasnevin Avenue, Dublin 11.