Budget 2026 Rumours for Share Investors: Who Said What

Capital Gains Tax rates: who has said what

The rumour that matters most for shares is Capital Gains Tax rising to match income tax. Today, gains on shares are taxed at 18% or 24%. Income tax is charged at 20%, 40% and 45%. Several people are on the record wanting the two lined up.

Wes Streeting said on the BBC's Political Thinking podcast in May 2026 that Capital Gains Tax should match income tax rates. Left Foot Forward reported his comments. He was Health and Social Care Secretary then and is now Defence Secretary.

Lord Kinnock, the former Labour leader, told the i Paper that Capital Gains Tax rates should be aligned with income tax. The Telegraph reported this on 3 August 2026, in an article republished by Yahoo Finance. It also reported that Louise Haigh, the First Secretary of State, has publicly backed the idea.

Dale Vince, a Labour donor, has proposed raising the personal allowance to £15,270, interactive investor reported on 22 September 2026. It would be paid for partly by moving Capital Gains Tax up to income tax rates over five years. The same report says that, according to The Telegraph, the government is weighing up the idea.

Lord Kinnock told the i Paper that aligning the rates would raise £12bn a year, The Telegraph reported. An analysis by IG, reported by The Telegraph, says it would cost £7.8bn a year. That's quite a range. Paul Johnson, the former director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, called the revenue estimates "nonsensical", according to interactive investor.

What the government has said

Nothing about Capital Gains Tax is confirmed until the Budget on 28 October 2026. On Lord Kinnock's proposal, a Treasury spokesman told The Telegraph that "decisions on tax are a matter for the Chancellor to set out at fiscal events".

The Institute for Government says the Prime Minister's "tax lock" rules out raising the rates of income tax, National Insurance and VAT. Capital Gains Tax isn't on that list.

Plenty of other claims are going round in Budget round-ups with no named source. I've left them out.

Already confirmed before the Budget

Dividend tax went up on 6 April 2026. The rates are now 10.75% for basic rate taxpayers and 35.75% for higher rate taxpayers, after a £500 dividend allowance. The additional rate of 39.35% didn't change.

ISAs change from April 2027, under rules the government set out on 23 June 2026:

• The overall ISA limit stays at £20,000, but people under 65 can put at most £12,000 of it into a cash ISA.
• Interest paid on cash held in a stocks and shares ISA faces a flat 22% charge. Your ISA manager, the firm that runs your ISA, pays it to HMRC. So £500 of interest means a £110 charge.
• Money can no longer move from a stocks and shares ISA into a cash ISA, though it can still go the other way.
• The rules treat money market funds, which invest in cash and very short-term loans, as cash-like, so a stocks and shares ISA can't hold only them. Shares, other funds, investment trusts, ETFs and bonds, including gilts, don't count as cash-like.

The lower rate for people selling their own business or shares in a company they work for, Business Asset Disposal Relief, went up to 18% on 6 April 2026.

What it means for shares you hold now

Sales made before 28 October are taxed at the 2026–27 rates of 18% and 24%, after the £3,000 allowance. If rates change, the Budget will also say when the change starts. In October 2024, new rates applied from the day of the Budget. If rates don't change, a sale before or after 28 October is taxed the same way.

Our guide to selling shares before the Budget covers how timing affects the tax, and the costs and risks of selling early. How Capital Gains Tax works covers the rates and allowance today.

When to get advice

Whether any of this changes what you do depends on your plans for the shares, your other gains and your income. A regulated financial adviser can look at your situation. Specialist tax advice also helps if your gains run to tens of thousands of pounds, or the shares came from your own company or an employer scheme.