Britain raids the pockets of the jet-setting super-rich to raise $3 billion

The United Kingdom has announced that it will scrap a 225-year-old rule that has allowed many of its richest residents to pay hardly any tax on their vast foreign earnings — a benefit enjoyed at one point by the prime minister’s wife.

The United Kingdom has announced that it will scrap a 225-year-old rule that has allowed many of its richest residents to pay hardly any tax on their vast foreign earnings — a benefit enjoyed at one point by the prime minister’s wife. The axing of the non-domiciled tax regime represents an about-face for Britain’s Conservative government, which had previously rejected calls to abolish the so-called “non-dom” status, citing the risk it posed to the country’s ability to attract globally mobile investors and wealthy foreigners with big spending power. “Those with the broadest shoulders should pay their fair share,” UK finance minister Jeremy Hunt told parliament Wednesday. “After looking at the issue over many months, I have concluded that we can, indeed, introduce a system which is both fairer and remains competitive with other countries.” There were an estimated 68,800 non-doms in the UK in 2022, according to HM Revenue & Customs, the UK’s tax collecting authority. Non-doms are people living in the UK but who claim to have a permanent residence in another country. The non-dom status means they can choose not to pay taxes on income and capital gains earned abroad for up to 15 years after arriving in Britain as long as they don’t transfer any of that money into the country. Many of them are extremely rich. In 2018, more than 40% of UK residents with income of £5 million ($6.4 million) a year claimed non-dom status, according to research from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and the University of Warwick.