Following controversial plans to change CGT, Alastair Darling and the Labour government face stiff opposition from UK business.
Due in April 2008, Capital Gains Tax (CGT) is due to rise to a flat 18%.
I understand it's much lower than in other countries (France: 33%, the USA: 35%, Germany: 22%, Japan: 40%, Ireland: 40% and Spain: 43%), and it is lower than income tax but can that justify an almost 100% rise in a tax?
One excuse given was that it is going to make the tax calculation process easier? Don't tell me a simple calculation is going to overwhelm the government's ever-expanding army of bean counters?
Should we stifle enterprise? The UK has around 800,000 SMEs, around the highest in the world. Following a recent poll of 500 SMEs, this decision has apparently caused a third of entrepreneurs to drop plans for further investment in their businesses.
The CBI deputy director-general, John Cridland, has said; "Entrepreneurs are now less inclined to do what they do best: taking risks, investing in ideas and driving the economy forward."
In a similar survey, almost three quarters (71%) of small businesses believe that Gordon Brown and Alastair Darling are bad for UK enterprise.
So together with over-regulation, what more have the government in store?
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