§ 6. Mr. Maurice Macmillanasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his estimate of the cost to the Exchequer of exempting from long—and short-term capital gains tax all gains that have risen by a lesser amount than the decline in the value of money.
§ The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Mr. John Diamond)I regret that the information on which to base an estimate is not available.
§ Mr. MacmillanWould not the Chief Secretary agree that on an investment made in 1965 and realised in 1969 approximately a third of the investors' tax bills on capital gains tax would in fact be due to inflation?
§ Mr. DiamondIt may well be that there is an element of price variation in computation of capital gains tax. This applies to all capital gains tax systems, and to take it into account would be both confusing and complex to a degree, and quite unfair to other taxpayers.