There is an excellent article on Alistair Darling's CGT changes in the FT today by Martin Wolf. Wolf defends the changes and makes many good and original points in defence of the chancellor. About time too.

I have been a little surprised by the reaction to the moves, I have to say. They are certainly wide-ranging, but suggestions that officials hadn't thought them out properly are just offensive - the Treasury and HMRC do get some things wrong, but I think they understand how CGT works and who pays it. Had they realised that second home owners might not pay as much tax, people ask? Of course they had.

Equally, when all you hear (and have to write about) week in, week out, is such and such a business organization/institute/newspaper calling for simpler taxes and flatter taxes and less complexity blah blah blah, it's amusing to see the same organisations reject it when they're offered it.

The Tories plan to oppose the moves. How they will square that with their plans to do away with the series of reliefs in place for corporation tax I don't know.

The CGT moves might, in fact, prove to be Darling's best and cleverest theft of Tory policies, in that he has now exposed some inconsistency in their position on tax.