Cameron said he paid income tax on the dividends but there was no capital gains tax payable.
More radically, the time has also come for residential property to be brought into the orbit of capital gains tax, payable on sale, as with other valuable assets.
The National Gallery has been advised that the capital gains tax payable on the sale will be so high that an offer of £21m should be more than enough to keep the painting in Trafalgar Square.
He paid income tax on the dividends but there was no capital gains tax payable and he said he sold up before entering Downing Street "because I didn't want anyone to say you have other agendas or vested interests".
"Around 70 per cent of our clients who buy property in France do so with the intention of retiring there at some stage and so don't usually plan to sell it after just a few years," he says, "Assuming the same rules apply where capital gains is only payable on the difference between the purchase price adjusted for inflation and the sale price, the rise would at least be partly offset".
They must then factor in the capital gains and income tax payable on the returns to arrive at the net amount that ends up in their pocket.
This, the Telegraph says, was in an effort to avoid capital gains tax, which is payable at a rate of 28% on profits made from the sale of second homes.
Bob Trunchion, a partner with accountants Macintyre Hudson, says the Chancellor has also in effect put a stop to the complex Melville 2 scheme, used by those who wanted to pass assets to the next generation but were restrained by the capital gains tax that would be payable when the gift was made.
Although many commentators focussed on the giveaways to the rich inherent in reducing the taxes payable on dividends and capital gains, these changes had little immediate impact on spending patterns.
Capital gains tax, at a flat rate of 3 per cent, is payable on the sale of a property if the sale price is more than 30 per cent higher than the original purchase price.
