New ‘founder relief’ is meant to boost entrepreneurs, but can anyone name a founder who qualifies?

A new tax rate of 10 per cent capital gains on up to £10m lifetime gains is designed to encourage and reward founders, but the draft rules are so narrowly drawn that hardly anyone will qualify, says John Manis In the film My Fair Lady, the heroine’s father, Alfred P Doolittle, makes a memorable case for charity to the undeserving, including himself. His needs, he explains, are every bit as great as the most deserving widow’s – but, as he puts it: “if there’s anything going, and I put in for a bit of it, it’s always the same story: ‘You’re undeserving, so you can’t have it.’” The new relief – a 10 per cent rate of capital gains tax on up to £10m of lifetime gains – is designed to encourage and reward founders. The draft rules are narrowly drawn. A claimant must have held at least 25 per cent of the ordinary shares and votes when trading, or preparations for it, began. They must have held them for five years, and been a UK resident for five continuous tax years. Broadly, the compan