Non-dom tax rule discriminates against ordinary citizens in Britain and abroad, yet through history the rich and their lawyers have scuppered attempts to scrap it When John Major was contemplating scrapping the tax advantages of non-dom status some decades ago, legend has it he changed his mind after a delegation of Greek shipping merchants descended on Downing street, threatening to move the Baltic Exchange shipping market from London to Hamburg.Successive generations of ministers across the political spectrum have tried and failed to close the loophole that allows wealthy individuals with foreign passports to live in the UK, raise their families here and often end their days here, without paying tax on their offshore fortunes.A typical tax exile will have UK residency, a Swiss account, and assets hidden in trusts in UK protectorates Related: Non-dom donors: who has given money to which parties? Non-dom status became so commonplace that British citizens, like HSBC boss Stuart Gulliver, started swapping homelandsThe significance of this cannot be overstated. For over a hundred years the UK has run a two-tier tax system. Continue reading...
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