Capital gains tax burden doubles

THE Capital Gains Tax (CGT) burden has more than doubled for some taxpayers since scheme rules were tweaked two years ago, an analysis of the tax has revealed.

The analysis shows a new form of so-called “stealth tax” has hiked the standard 20% CGT tax rate to more than 40% in some cases, when the effects of inflation are included.

The Department of Finance has estimated the abolition of a special relief, which had allowed taxpayers to strip out inflation-related gains when calculating taxable profits on the disposal of property or shares, has brought in over €100 million in extra tax every year. But the extra tax hit could be even higher.