The problem with Rachel Reeves’s non-dom tax plan

By abolishing non-dom status, Jeremy Hunt was supposed to have clipped the wings of the shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves. Given that she had already earmarked the extra revenue – or what she hoped would be extra revenue – for free school breakfasts and a few other things, Hunt had suddenly punched a hole in her spending plans.

But Reeves now claims to have filled that hole. She claims that she will raise an extra £2.6 billion – on top of what the Chancellor is expecting to raise – by closing a few loopholes. Non-doms will no longer be allowed to escape inheritance tax by placing wealth held overseas into trusts. Reeves will also remove the 50 per cent discount that Hunt offered non-doms on overseas earnings and capital gains during their first year living in Britain.    

All Labour’s spending plans will be fully costed, says Reeves.