Much debate recently about start-ups, business owners and wealthy people who work leaving the UK. The changes to NI thresholds, employment law, renters rights, plus extra costs of commercial property rates banding, all add up to a cocktail of expensive overheads in many business sectors. If you invest, build a business then cash out after 15-20 years, the government also wants an 18% slice (from April 2026) of the profits on all your hard work, despite taxing your company and you, for all that time, with CT, VAT, income Tax, fuel duty, NI etc.
From pubs/restaurants, through BTL property, to new insurtech companies, the environment in the UK is high taxation, high admin, high regulation. Some might call it a hostile attitude to business in general from the governments of the UK, plus many in the public sector who regard socialism as the perfect foundation for economic activity. Despite historical proof that it rarely works without huge receipts from resources such as coal, oil and gas propping up the regime in charge.
It’s something of a bellwether, so let’s look at the latest CGT receipts as they suggest a flight of wealth and innovators;
HM Revenue and Customs data today showed that Capital Gains Tax receipts for 2025 were £13.646 billion, down from £14.900 billion in 2024 – a fall of 8.4 per cent.
Jason Hollands, managing director at wealth management firm Evelyn Partners, comments:
‘This marked decrease in Capital Gains Tax receipts indicates that taxpayers are swerving this and the previous Government’s crackdown on capital gains by sitting tight and deferring disposals, suggesting the futility of over-taxing investors and business owners.
‘The CGT data from not just today, but the last few years and through history, suggests that investors either bring forward decisions ahead of anticipated changes or are deterred from crystallising gains afterwards, or both. This exposes the trouble with increasing the CGT burden: investors will change their plans and behaviour accordingly to avoid paying tax where they feel it is too high. In many cases, a more aggressive tax environment leads to lower rather than higher revenues.
‘Investors – and CGT receipts – have had time to absorb the slashing of the CGT annual exemption from £12,300 in 2022/23 to just £3,000 in 2024/25 under the previous Conservative government. Sure enough, the receipts data reveals little or no benefit to the Treasury coffers from this step. Final revenue data shows that CGT brought in £16.93 billion in 2022/23, £14.50 billion in 2023/24 and just £13.06 billion in 2024/25 – and these latest receipts figures suggest that downward trend could continue.
‘Indeed, the only significant consequence is likely to have been distorting and disincentivising effects on investment and business decisions.
‘The rest of this year’s CGT take is worth watching as it will start to reveal the effects on investors and business owners of the Chancellor’s increase to CGT rates in her first Budget on 30 October 2024, which saw an immediate rise in CGT rates come into effect that day.[1] With the exception of non-exempt property disposals where taxable gains need to be reported and CGT paid within 60-days of completion, capital gains on other assets are typically disclosed via self-assessment and tend to lag longer in the data. So while this receipts data reveals much of the impact of the lower annual exemptions, and higher CGT rates on property investors, January and February 2026 will be the key months to watch.
‘In summary, the data does not bode well for the Chancellor’s hopes that her CGT rate hikes will bolster the public purse over the coming years.
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