Chancellor urged to act over stamp duty

Posted: 21 Feb 2008 11:56:47 GMT

The chancellor of the exchequer is being urged to raise the threshold for stamp duty.

The chancellor of the exchequer is being urged to raise the threshold for stamp duty.

Alistair Darling is due to deliver his first Budget in March and the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) wants him to announce major changes.

The organisation is calling for a stamp duty scale, with no tax at all being paid on properties worth £200,000 or less.

Homes worth up to £300,000 would be taxed at one per cent, while those worth up to £450,000 would be taxed at two per cent and so on until a final tax of 4.5 per cent which would be levied against properties worth over £2 million.

However, stamp duty would not apply to the entire value of the property and would work in much the same way that income tax is charged.

For example; a property worth £250,000 would be tax-free on the first £200,000 but would then incur a one per cent levy on the final £50,000.

Stewart Lilly, president of the NAEA, said: "The government needs to be aware that with inflation rising consumers need a helping hand. We would like to see a scale of stamp duty that reflects the house price inflation in recent years."

Alistair Darling will deliver his first Budget on March 12th, with speculation growing that some kind of change to the stamp duty system will be announced.

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