A number of people have contacted me regarding the Finance Bill and the Mayfair tax loophole, in which private equity managers can exploit the opportunity to pay a lower rate of tax on carried interest.
Regrettably, contrary to common belief, the Mayfair loophole has not been closed, and no proposal was put forward by the UK Government to close the loophole in this year’s Finance Bill.
The SNP have consistently campaigned for the closure of the deeply unjust Mayfair loophole. In fact, my SNP colleague Roger Mullin MP tabled an amendment to the Finance Bill 2016 that would have closed the Mayfair loophole. We called on the UK Government to publish a report setting out proposals for amending the law to ensure that no element of the remuneration paid to an investment fund manager may be treated as a capital gain, and that such remuneration shall be treated for tax purposes wholly as income. I am very disappointed that the UK Government failed to support this sensible and progressive amendment.
In her first statement as Prime Minister in Downing Street, Theresa May vowed to prioritise those on low incomes, not the wealthy. However it is clear that by failing to support our amendment, the Tory UK Government is intent on continuing to ensure that the wealth of the few continues to rise, while those on low and middle incomes struggle under her unnecessary austerity measures.
The Finance Bill 2016 by no means goes far enough to stimulate the kind of prosperity needed to create a balanced, fair, thriving economy. Rest assured that my SNP colleagues and I remain wholly committed to tax justice, and are dedicated to ensuring that the Mayfair loophole be scrapped.
