What would a capital gains tax hike mean for Britain’s start-ups?

A sweeping hike in capital gains tax risks “undermining the chancellor’s growth agenda” and could suck talent and investment away from Britain’s start-ups, some of the country’s top fintech bosses have warned. Industry bodies and tech chiefs mounted a co-ordinated push to topple the suggestion of a blanket rise in CGT yesterday as they called for a carve-out of ‘earned capital gains’, which could shield the equity of start-up founders and staff from a rise in taxes. Start-ups often make up for lower salaries by offering their staff equity in the company. Suggestions that the Treasury could hit those shares with a 45 per cent tax have triggered fears of an exodus away from the UK or into safer salary-paying jobs at big tech firms. “I will say the level of alarm in the tech community is just escalating and escalating,” Paul Taylor, founder of $2.7bn (£2.06bn) banking technology firm Thought Machine, told City A.M. For more on the story https://www.cityam.com/tech-chiefs-warn-chancellor-not-to-undermine-growth-with-tax-hike/ Produced by: Charlie Conchie, Scarlett Wild, Larissa Howie Get more of City A.M. 👇 🌐 http://www.cityam.com X(formerly Twitter): http://twitter.com/CityAM Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cityam Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/city_am LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/cityam