What does it say a few nation when its wealthiest are leaving in droves? When these ‘have yachts’ are ready to promote up, transfer households from their luxurious properties and youngsters from their colleges merely to get away? And earlier than any of you nurture the misguided and damaging notion of suggesting we bid all of them good riddance and label them as tax dodgers, keep in mind in 2023 – the final yr for which full figures can be found — these so known as “non-doms“ paid £8.9 billion in tax into the country.
That’s a lot of nurses, teachers and police officers. And that is precisely the sort of amount of cash that will be lost to the Treasury now the government’s ill-conceived attack on the non-domicile tax status came into force last Monday. Until then wealthy foreigners paid an annual fee of £30,000, but now their worldwide assets will be taxed at 40% — among the highest on the planet.
This Marxist doctrine style attack has helped London lose the highest proportion of millionaires anywhere in the world, save for Moscow, all of whom were paying vast amounts in UK tax on their multi-million salaries, and also in many instances were launching businesses, employing staff and creating wealth. Yes, they employ highly skilled tax lawyers and accountants but the tax take is still vast and to be counted in the billions, and remember it was only tax on GLOBAL earnings they were able to minimise.
A survey by Oxford Economics showed each non-dom paid an average of £800,000 in VAT in 2024 alone. But it is drearily predictable that the green-eyed monster of jealousy that often lurks dangerously near the surface of any Labour government drives such a policy.
These fiscal incompetents blithely ignore the facts that these supposed ‘super rich’ employ staff such as drivers and housekeepers, use our restaurants and stores, and often spend like drunken sailors on Navy Day. To quote the flamboyant potter Grayson Perry — admittedly not a regular source of inspiration — but who eloquently summed it up:”Obviously I really like the tremendous wealthy, as a result of they purchase my work. Where the f*** do you assume the cash is coming from?”
Then there’s the vastly vital charity sector which can even lose out on numerous billions as typically the abroad tax these folks saved was directed to worthy causes, lots of them in Perry’s world of the humanities. And earlier than any of you refrain the road the wealthy ought to pay extra in tax, bear this in thoughts. Already the highest one per cent of earners pay 29% of our tax take, and the richest 10% account for TEN PERCENT.
Meanwhile, as we drive the wealthy from our shores different nations are sensible sufficient to supply a welcoming embrace. In the US and Dubai there are ‘Golden Visas’ that may be purchased by international traders and Italy has introduced it should settle for an annual payment of 200,000€ to offer monetary safety.
But depressingly within the UK we appear to proceed to bounce to the tune of ‘Who Wants To Flee … A Millionaire!’
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/2040344/labour-shoot-themselves-foot