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What does the future hold for capital gains tax? Could CGT be a post-covid cash cow for the Treasury or would higher rates and smaller reliefs lead to lower investment and less revenue? How important are low rates of tax on capital gains in encouraging investment and entrepreneurialism? Should big CGT reliefs like Private Residence Relief and Business Asset Disposal Relief (previously Entrepreneurs’ Relief) get the chop?

The Office of Tax Simplification has launched a review of CGT. Can the system be simplified? Are there aspects of CGT which are needlessly complex or arbitrary? Should capital gains be taxed as income? What about capital gains on death? Should CGT be merged with inheritance tax?

These are some of the questions our expert panel explored in this highly topical debate.

The debate panel consisted of:

  • Stuart Adam, Senior Research Economist, Institute for Fiscal Studies (Download Stuart's slides)

  • Katherine Bullock, Barrister, Field Court Tax Chambers

  • Stephen Herring, Member of Advisory Council, TaxPayers Alliance, and formerly Head of Tax Policy, Institute of Directors

  • Robert Palmer, Executive Director, Tax Justice UK

The event was chaired by Helen Miller (Institute for Fiscal Studies).