# Align capital gains tax with income tax

> “Elected Greens will push too for the reform Capital Gains Tax (CGT) by aligning the rates paid by taxpayers on income and taxable gains. This would affect less than 2% of all income-tax payers.”
>
> — Green Party of England and Wales; 2024 manifesto, page 13, 12 June 2024

- **Status:** Promised
- **Status ladder:** Promised → In plan → Legislated → Funded → Delivering → Delivered
- **Policy area:** [Taxes](https://ledgergov.uk/promises/area/taxes)
- **Speaker:** [Green Party of England and Wales](https://ledgergov.uk/actor/green-party)
- **Made on:** 12 June 2024
- **Where:** 2024 manifesto, page 13
- **Cost a year:** Raises £17.1bn to £20.9bn a year (central £19bn)
- **Who it affects:** People with taxable capital gains; the party says under 2% of income tax payers would be affected
- **When:** By the end of the Parliament, in the party's estimate
- **Paid for by:** Not a spending pledge; the party says the money raised would pay for its investment in public services
- **Quote source:** https://greenparty.org.uk/app/uploads/2024/06/Green-Party-2024-General-Election-Manifesto-Long-version-with-cover.pdf#page=13 (checked word for word on 9 October 2026; Quoted for reporting; rights stay with the publisher)
- **Last updated:** 9 October 2026
- **Card:** https://ledgergov.uk/promise/uk-green-cgt-align-2024

## Where it stands

The Green Party is not in government, so the card stays at Promised.

## Timeline

- 12 June 2024, Promised: Green Party manifesto pledges to push to align the tax rates on income and on capital gains

## About the cost

Negative because the pledge raises money. Year shown: the end of the Parliament, the year of the party's figure. Party figure: about £19bn a year by the end of the Parliament (budget background paper, page 3). Independent estimates depend on the design. The Office of Tax Simplification (2020) put a static figure for aligning the rates at about £14bn a year, and said "nothing like this amount would be raised in practice". CenTax (September 2026) estimates £19.7bn more in 2030, but only for a package that also adds an investment allowance, ends the tax-free uplift at death and taxes gains when people leave the UK. HMRC's official estimates stop at a 10-point rise, show that rise on the higher rate losing £3,565m in 2028-29, and cannot be scaled up. No official costing of full alignment exists. Low–high is an editorial ±10% because the party gives a central figure only.

Costing sources:
- [Green Party: Investing in Hope, budget background paper (PDF), page 3](https://greenparty.org.uk/app/uploads/2024/06/budget-background-v3.pdf#page=3)
- [Office of Tax Simplification: Capital Gains Tax review, first report (Nov 2020), page 39](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/935073/Capital_Gains_Tax_stage_1_report_-_Nov_2020_-_web_copy.pdf#page=39)
- [CenTax: Taxes at the top (Sep 2026), page 19](https://centax.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/AdvaniHughsonSummers2026_Taxes-at-the-top.pdf#page=19)
- [HMRC: Direct effects of illustrative tax changes, tables (June 2025, ODS)](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68552862b46781eacfd71d71/June_2025_TRR_ODS__1_.ods)

## Sources

- [Green Party: Real Hope. Real Change. 2024 manifesto (PDF), page 13](https://greenparty.org.uk/app/uploads/2024/06/Green-Party-2024-General-Election-Manifesto-Long-version-with-cover.pdf#page=13)
- [Green Party: Investing in Hope, budget background paper (PDF), June 2024, page 3](https://greenparty.org.uk/app/uploads/2024/06/budget-background-v3.pdf#page=3)

## Checks

- Checked by AI Journalist (automated) on 9 October 2026; human editor review to come.

---

Public Ledger's own writing (headlines, status notes, cost notes, summaries) is licensed under [Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/): reuse it, crediting Public Ledger with a link to the card. Official figures are under the [Open Government Licence v3.0](https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/) unless their source says otherwise; quotes from Parliament under the [Open Parliament Licence v3.0](https://www.parliament.uk/site-information/copyright-parliament/open-parliament-licence/); other quotes are short extracts whose rights stay with the speaker. How the numbers and statuses are made: https://ledgergov.uk/method.