§ Mr. HowardTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on what basis he is calculating the trend in levels of receipts from(a) the financial services sector and (b) stamp duty on property. [85535]
§ Ruth Kelly[holding answer 5 December 2002]: Further details on projections of receipts from financial companies are given in paragraphs B45 and B46 of the pre-Budget report.
Details of the projections of stamp duty receipts are given in paragraphs B52 and B53 of the pre-Budget report. They are based on the assumption that house price inflation moderates towards its long run relationship with earnings, as explained in paragraph B54 of the Financial Statement and Budget Report 2002.
The public finance projections are deliberately based on cautious assumptions for key economic variables, including the trend rate of growth of the economy.