With the Spending Review now out of the way, the Chancellor and the wider Treasury team can turn their focus to the Autumn Budget and the options for potential tax rises if they are required.

The hope will be that the economic picture will improve before the Autumn, but with the global picture increasingly uncertain, contingency plans need to be drawn up. 

A starting point is likely to involve dusting off the list of possibilities that didn’t make the cut in last year’s Autumn Budget. One such option, which was the subject of widespread speculation, was a more substantial increase in the rate of CGT.

There were various calls ahead of the budget last year for the chancellor to increase the main rate of CGT so that it is more closely aligned to higher income tax rates. Indeed, it was reported that a CGT rate as high as 39% was being modelled by Treasury officials.