Exercise 2: Manchester vs. Edinburgh Isn't "The Same UK Stamp Duty" — Possible Solution
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This assumption is incorrect because Manchester (England) and
Edinburgh (Scotland) use two genuinely separate, differently-structured
taxes, not one shared "UK stamp duty" applied uniformly everywhere.

In Manchester, SDLT applies, with a real first-time buyer nil-rate
threshold of £300,000 for properties up to £500,000. A £280,000
purchase falls entirely below that threshold, so the real SDLT owed
is £0.

In Edinburgh, LBTT applies instead, with a real, much lower first-time
buyer nil-rate threshold of £175,000. On a £280,000 purchase, the
£175,001-£250,000 portion (£75,000) is taxed at 2% (£1,500), and the
£250,001-£280,000 portion (£30,000) is taxed at 5% (£1,500) - a real
total of £3,000 in LBTT.

The colleague's identical £280,000 purchase would genuinely cost £0 in
property tax in Manchester but approximately £3,000 in Edinburgh - a
real, substantial difference purely from which nation the property is
in, directly contradicting the "it's all just UK stamp duty" framing.

ANSWER: This assumption is incorrect because England and Scotland use
two separate taxes with different first-time buyer thresholds - SDLT
(£300,000 FTB threshold) means £0 tax owed on a £280,000 Manchester
purchase, while LBTT (£175,000 FTB threshold) means approximately
£3,000 owed on the identical £280,000 purchase in Edinburgh. The
choice of nation makes a real, substantial financial difference.

WHY THIS WORKS AS AN ANSWER
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This correctly applies both real tax systems to the identical purchase
price, computing concrete real figures for both cities rather than
only asserting the two systems differ in the abstract.