New figures from HMRC reveal the taxman collected £18.1bn in Capital Gains Tax in 2022/23, a huge £7bn more than two years previously.
It means the amount of CGT collected by the government has doubled in the past five years, and more than tripled in the past decade.
Buy-to-let landlords offloading property are behind these rocketing receipts, which are set to continue as the CGT annual tax-free exemption has been slashed from £12,300 a year to £6,000 and is set to fall to £3,000 from April next year.