Venting my spleen on CGT

I see that I not only got quoted in the FT today E-Petition to vent small business fury but they reproduced my blog entry below in full. I daily get more amazed at the 'reach' and 'quality of readership' of 'Holway's HotViews'.

But I am even more amazed at the ignorance of our current Government in this new proposal to almost double CGT on the sale of business assets. My mailbag has bulged with complaints from the tech sector alone. Of course, this doesn't just affect the founders. It affects ALL employees who have options. It affects everyone in an SAYE scheme or other share ownership scheme. it affects all owners of AIM shares etc.

At 10%, the CGT was both fair and wasn't worth the hassle and expense of avoiding.

The effect of this will be:

- incentives to setup new businesses in the UK will be lowered. New small businesses are vital to the economy and are its largest employer. so unemployment could well rise as a result.

- business owners will devise ways of getting around the tax. Going offshore will become popular again (surely better 10% CGT than no tax at all?)

- "If you gotta sell, Sell now!" will be the cry. Expect a flood of private company sales to beat the Apr 08 deadline. this is both bad for the country and industry AND will distort the M&A sector.

If you feel as strongly as me then DO SOMETHING. Write to your MP, the chancellor or the PM. Join in the Downing Street e-petition or even join the Facebook Group setup for this purpose. Just don't sit and moan alone!