7% stamp duty predicted for Budget

The Chancellor George Osborne will today raise Stamp Duty on the country's highest priced properties as part of a tax raid on the wealthy.

The top-end property market is booming at present, with a huge surge in the amount of homes sold so far this year compared to 2011.

New figures have revealed sales of homes valued at £5m or more in London have jumped by 98% this year, to £723m.

 According to the Financial Times, which cited officials involved in the Budget, Osborne will today try to capture some of that market, with a new 7% Stamp Duty on sales of property worth more than £2m.

The move, which would appease those who are angry at the expected decision to cut the 50p tax rate to 45p, takes the Stamp Duty up significantly from its current level.

The highest Stamp Duty rate is 5% on sales above £1m. Combined with a crackdown on Stamp Duty avoidance the plan could raise hundreds of millions of pounds a year.

Elsewhere today, corporation tax is expected to fall by 2p , while the government is also tipped to raise the minimum allowance to help give a boost to the least wealthy.