Speeches by Yang.

“Professor Leunig, you said just now that all sources of income should be taxed equally. There are many renters in Reading and across the country—my younger brother, for example—who are paying higher effective rates of tax than their landlords, who do not pay national insurance contributions on the rental income that th…”

“Can I clarify two separate things that I think have got confused in this discussion? One is the discussion of broadening the CGT tax base; in this case, as Professor Leunig mentioned, that could include not exempting main residences—or charging CGT on main residences—which is not case. The question I actually wanted to…”

“But if there was indexation to inflation or to some other index, what would the pros and cons be?”

“This question is to Ms Willis and then to Professor Leunig. We have just been discussing stamp duty land tax, which is charged when you buy a house. I want to turn to capital gains tax, which is charged on some properties when some owners sell a house—primary residences are currently exempted. Ms Willis, could you spea…”

“What is that in prices?”

“I see what you are saying. Thank you, Professor Leunig. Mr Donnell, there have been numerous proposals for some version of a proportional property tax, such as Professor Leunig’s. Some of those would require revaluation of properties on a constant basis rather than at the point of sale, where the sale price is a clear,…”

“Can you give a rough idea of the figures for those different low and high ends that you think are more difficult to value?”

“Just to be clear, in your proposal, when you say that there needs to be a change to the way that the Government set out their accounts, it seems to imply that there needs to be a change in the fiscal rules. Are you saying that that does not—”

“Apologies; you have been an apolitical policy advisor, and you have worked very closely in Government. What do you think have been the obstacles to the kinds of changes in the taxation and fiscal regime that you just described?”

“Professor Leunig, you have been a special adviser—”

“I want to zoom out a bit more. We are talking about the regrets of the 2010s, and I was at university during the 2010s.”

“I think the families who used Sure Start would have felt differently about that, but let us zoom back.”

“It was generally felt, but was there evidence, because you just referred to evidence?”

“Was there evidence given to you at the time by the Treasury or other Departments about the cost-effectiveness of Sure Start?”

“That is not what you did at the time.”

“Would you propose that this Labour Government continue with its plans?”

“Mr Osborne, you mentioned that you do not regret scrapping Sure Start because there could have been other investments in early years that would have been more effective. Did you make those other investments?”

“And you felt those were more effective than keeping Sure Start?”

“We were not in the euro at the time.”

“But that is not what residents will feel.”