Baroness Noakes insists CGT rise unwanted

Baroness Noakes

Baroness Noakes, the former KPMG partner and until recently a Tory Treasury spokesman in the House of Lords, has told the chancellor that rises in capital gains tax have "no popular support".

According to a report in the Daily Telegraph Lady Noakes has told George Osborne that the measures, expected to lift the CGT rate from 18% to something closer to 40%, have no support in the party or in the business community.

The plan was to levy an increase on non-business assets but the details are as yet unclear and expected to be revealed in the emergency Budget later this month. Prime Minister David Cameron has already hinted that the original idea may be watered down, as had Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.

A rise in CGT was a core principle in the Liberal Democrat election manifesto and was adopted by the Tories when the two parties formed the coalition government.

Reform of CGT was long expected because the differential between the CGT and income rates was encouraging many people to convert income into capital in a bid to avoid the higher rates.

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