Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
BHF Group has welcomed the Chancellor’s about-turn on Capital Gains Tax for small businesses – but says he is “still getting away with most of the loot from his smash-and-grab raid on business”.
In a statement put out by the association, managing director Alan Hawkins said: “The proposed, then amended, CGT hike to a flat rate of 18% threatened to do serious damage to the long-held and carefully-pursued plans of many small businesses. It also, in the past quarter, introduced unnecessary uncertainty for those looking to their financial future.”
However, creating a 10% threshold for gains below seven figures, the association argues, may look like a major concession and may be a victory for small businesses, but it is only part of the story.
Abolishing taper relief and ramping up the tax on capital gains above the million mark, the statement goes on, still represents a massive tax grab from business. It says that the lower rate may have kept government hands off £200m but it will still haul away nearly four times that amount in increased CGT.
It adds that £1m is also an arbitrary figure at which to set the limit, and is well within the value range of many small businesses.
