Clause 45 - Taper relief: holding period for business assets
Finance Bill
12:30 pm
Ms Ruth Kelly (Economic Secretary, HM Treasury; Bolton West, Labour)
I, too, am indebted to the Chartered Institute of Taxation for providing the Opposition Benches with such valuable ammunition, amusing anecdotes and illuminating examples. I intend to deal with them all in my response.
First, I shall address the point of principle raised by the right hon. Member for Fylde. He referred to what we have said about previous Finance Bills, such as that introducing greater relief for business assets was good and virtuous, and that short-termism was bad. What we did then, and are continuing to do, is introduce a taper relief that means that a tax bill diminishes the longer an asset is held. That is the fundamental principle; it is key to our agenda to reward enterprise, encourage work and increase productivity. I do not accept that our fundamental motive in making the changes has changed in any respect.