Finance Bill

Indeed, Madam Deputy Speaker. The right hon. and learned Member for Camberwell and Peckham called for action on taxation, which is the point that I am coming to. Several people have called for action on taxation over the past few weeks. Indeed, members of the Treasury Committee have made that a feature of their inquiry on private equity. New clause 11 would give the Treasury the opportunity to produce information to help to bring clarity to the debate on private equity. It is important to know the Treasury’s estimate of the cost of the tax relief granted to private equity companies and venture capital funds through the application of taper relief on carried interest. The matter is not straightforward, which is why we have asked the European School of Management to examine carefully not only the broad question of private equity, but some of the tax issues. We realise that taper relief is an incentive for people to make long-term investment decisions and to be rewarded for the risk that they have taken. The treatment of carried interest stems from a memorandum of understanding between the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association and the Government. The MOU is referred to in the first part of the new clause. That treatment is applied to the carried interest, which is described in the MOU as"““an interest in a partnership which provides that the holder is entitled to participate in the super profit made by the fund””." Super-profit occurs when the return from a fund exceeds various thresholds. In effect, the MOU disapplies income tax rules under the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 that usually apply to securities that are acquired as part of employment. We have a problem understanding the amounts involved. For example, during last week’s Prime Minister’s questions, the right hon. and learned Member for North-East Fife (Sir Menzies Campbell) said"““we are giving a tax break of £6 billion per annum to some of the wealthiest people in the United Kingdom.””—[Official Report, 20 June 2007; Vol. 461, c. 1372.]" I was not quite sure what he meant by that. While the Red Book gives that figure as the value of taper relief, that relief applies to a wide range of transactions and people. Last week, the managing director of Gala Bingo highlighted the fact that all his employees who invest in shares in the business benefit from that taper relief. As part of the debate on private equity, it is important that we get information about the value of tax relief, which would be the purpose of the first part of new clause 11. I would be keen for the Treasury to publish how much it has raised through private equity in capital gains tax in each year since 1997 and the impact that the MOU has had on the amount taken. Given that the Treasury is conducting a review on carried interest, I assume that it has such information at its fingertips. It would be beneficial to the entire debate on private equity if that information was published so that people could gain an understanding of the true extent of the problem. It would also be helpful if there was a way of analysing from the Government’s figures the time that the carried interest had been held to determine whether private equity investors hold for the long term. At the moment, the taper relief kicks in after two years. The period for which private equity holders are holding carried interest beyond that cut-off point is a matter of contention. Will the Economic Secretary share with us the terms of reference of the Treasury’s review of the matter? The other aspect of tax relief that has recently caused concern, which has been cited by the Transport and General Workers Union in the context of the acquisition of Boots by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, is the fact that interest paid on money used to fund an acquisition is subject to tax relief, as is any money borrowed by companies. It is important that we know the extent to which private equity is using a relief that is available to all businesses that are owed money. Such information would bring clarity to the debate that is taking place not only in the House, but elsewhere. While the Red Book tells us the value of the taper relief, it does not give information about the general tax relief or the extent to which the private equity industry takes advantage of that. However, earlier this year, the Economic Secretary announced a Treasury review on the interest treatment of certain loans, so perhaps he will be able to share information with the House to inform the broader debate on that tax relief. As you indicated, Madam Deputy Speaker, this is a narrow debate. However, it is important that we have such information so that the wider debate, which has been characterised by generating more heat than light, can take place in the context of that information.