Mr Hobson said: “Capital gains tax was equal to income tax when I set up Photobox. The think tank added that the majority of capital investments in the UK came from institutional investors that were largely exempt from capital gains tax. Pranesh Narayanan, the author of IPPR’s report, said: “The recent fearmongering from some that increasing capital gains tax will take the economy back to the stone ages is pure hyperbole. The rate of capital gains tax was equal to income tax between 1988 and 2008, when Labour’s Alistair Darling cut the levy to 18% for all taxpayers. Further changes followed, with different rates now applying for different assets and different income tax bands.
