Allister Heath says that Brown’s poll tax on Britain’s 114,000 non-domiciled residents will drive away talent when our economy most needs it. Shame the Tories would do the same
You would have thought that with the economy weakening, the stock market sliding, house prices tanking and Northern Rock’s botched rescue a daily humiliation, Gordon Brown would be doing all in his powers to help the City of London weather the gathering storm. Instead, he appears intent on making life even more difficult for it.
His reckless plan to crack down on Britain’s 114,000 non-domiciled residents, including many of the City’s most important financiers, will be the most damaging in a long list of spectacularly ill-timed tax hikes due this year. Even the Treasury now admits that 3,000 non-dom expats will leave Britain in April, when the changes, including a £30,000 annual poll tax, are due to kick in. This is a truly remarkable admission, of which far too little has been made.
Given how hard all economies, including Britain, strive to attract high-net-worth investors and the highly skilled these days, it is difficult to fathom why any government in its right mind would wish suddenly to begin penalising those it has sought to woo for so long.
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