Gordon Brown defends CGT decisions

Prime minister Gordon Brown strongly has strongly defended his new 18% CGT
rate after Tory leader David Cameron demanded chancellor Alistair Darling
‘resolve the uncertainty’ over the future structure of the tax.

Brown was challenged over the controversy surrounding the scrapping of CGT
taper relief at his first prime minister’s press conference following the
pre-Budget report which scrapped taper relief.

He said the new 18% rate was half the 40% rate when Labour came to power in
1997 and said it compares with 22.5% in Germany, 25% in the USA, 33% in France
and 40% in Japan.

He said: ‘I think this debate about CGT has got to be seen in its proper
context.’

Cameron told the CBI he wanted Darling to make clear ‘what the CGT will look
like in five months’ time’, adding, ‘the best thing he could do is stand up,
admit he’s made a mistake and abandon his nil-considered plans.’

He urged against applying sticking plaster to proposals he believed had
angered entrepreneurs and the business community.

He said the question was whether the proposed simplification would make the
UK a better place to be an entrepreneur and create wealth and jobs.