Figures released by HMRC on the cost of tax reliefs over the past four years (www.bit.ly/1OqtXzO) have according to the FT shown that ‘the cost of some tax reliefs has risen 13% … to £117bn a sum larger than the budget of any department including the [NHS].’
The newspaper particularly singled out the rise in the cost of the CGT exemption arising on the disposal of an individual’s only or main residence as fuelling most of its calculation where the cost of the exemption rose from £10.5bn in 2012/13 to an estimate of £18bn in 2015/16. The increase in VAT relief on housebuilding from £7.5bn to £11.4bn over the period was also reported as a significant increase as well as the rise in the cost of entrepreneurs’ relief from £2bn to £3bn and R&D tax credits from £1.4bn to £2bn....
