Introduce CGT on homes, says thinktank

The Government is being urged to consider introducing capital gains tax (CGT) to help prevent house prices from spiralling out of control. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (Niesr) believes that the levy would help deter people from investing in property, helping to restrict overall demand from buyers and keep property prices at bay. Angus Armstrong, a Senior Economist at Niesr, told the press, “A first priority must be to improve the taxation of housing. An efficient tax system would be consistent across assets and leave the decision about how much to consume today versus save and consume tomorrow unaffected. “If a capital gains tax were introduced, this would reduce the gains in an upturn and losses in a downturn, so dampening house price cycles. These ideas are unfortunately in the opposite direction to recent policies.” The thinktank also urged the Government to stop relying so heavily on the private housebuilding sector to help solve the widening supply-demand imbalance in the market, as it could never meet the demands for housing.” The latest figures show that the number of new homes registered across the UK hit an eight year high of 156,140 in 2015, up 7 per cent…