Budget Review for Stamp Duty?

It's the time of year when the Chancellor (the one with the eyebrows) dusts of his little red lunch box and reveals this years budget.

The RICS, NAEA and the Tories have all been shouting and screaming about the status of Stamp Duty. Despite seemingly borrowing a lot of policies form the Right Side of the House, Mr Darling failed to mention any revisions to Stamp Duty in his pre budget announcements.

The NAEA have provided quite a credible way of dealing with Stamp Duty by abolishing the current levels and introducing the 1% threshold at £200,000 - £300,000

After that it goes as follows(most of us can switch of at this point)

• £300,001 to £450,000 – two per cent
• £450,001 to £1 million – three per cent
• £1 million and above – four per cent
• £2 million and above – 4.5 per cent

Whilst there is every chance that the Chancellor will ignore Stamp Duty, it is great to see the issue being openly discussed.