This follows on from his previous statement in which he said he would publish revised proposals before Christmas.
The current CGT regime means that basic rate taxpayers who have held shares in their employer for at least 2 years are only subject to a 5 per cent CGT charge.
The Chancellor’s Pre-Budget Report outlined changes that would mean that these employee shareholders would have to pay an additional 13 per cent tax on any gain above £9,200 from April 2008.
ifs ProShare argued that this would mean employees who have contributed to the success of their employers are now going to be worse off than under existing legislation whilst non-employee shareholders who have not done so are to have their CGT liabilities substantially reduced (from 40 per cent to 18 oer cent).
The changes may discourage medium and long term saving through employee share ownership and could also damage the move towards wider share ownership.
In response, ifs ProShare has submitted a range of proposals to the Treasury as to how the potentially negative impact of such changes can be mitigated.
Fiona Downes, head of employee share ownership at ifs ProShare, said: “We hope that the delay announced today will only be a short one. Whilst it’s important that the government fully considers all proposals, employee shareholders and employers need an end to this uncertainty as quickly as possible.”
