To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 26 November 2007, Official Report, column 47W, on capital gains tax, if he will estimate the revenue implications of taxing capital gains at the same marginal rates as income tax, with indexation from April 2008. (171466)

[holding answer 5 December 2007]: The revenue yield from taxing all capital gains at the income tax rates announced for 2008-09 with indexation allowance but without applying taper relief would be of the order of £3 billion a year by comparison with the current (2007-08) regime. This is a broad estimate that assumes continuation of the tax-free annual exempt amount and takes into account the likely taxpayer response to the change.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the capital gains tax (CGT) revenues received by the Exchequer from sales of residential properties in each of the last five years; and what estimate he has made of the net effect on this CGT revenue stream of the proposed reforms to CGT announced in the October 2007 pre-Budget report. (172798)

Capital gains tax paid depends on the taxpayer's total gains, losses, reliefs and marginal rate, so it is not possible to attribute amounts of tax to separate disposals. Statistics on the number of disposals, disposal value and gains made on assets disposed of in 2004-05 by type of asset, including residential property, are available in National Statistics table 14.4 on the HM Revenue and Customs website at:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/capital_gains/menu.htm

The 2007 pre-Budget report announced a reform of the capital gains tax regime for individuals. From 6 April 2008, all disposals that attract capital gains tax will do so at a rate of 18 per cent.