If you read the papers, you might have formed the view that Labour’s proposed replacement of the non-dom regime will lead to the sky falling in. Here are some of the good bits:
The Telegraph:
The Evening Standard:
Here’s a lawyer who acts for non-doms:
Here’s the Daily Mail:
Here’s a guy who acts for wealthy shipowners:
But is the sky really falling in? Or is the media inadvertently playing Chicken Little?
Back in 2008 Labour introduced the non-domy levy (subsequently increased, twice, during the course of this Parliament). Here’s what was said then about the effects of introducing the levy. (Warning: some of it may feel a little, well, familiar).
The Daily Mail:
The British Banking Association:
The fetchingly salmon Financial Times:
The Telegraph:
A large firm of accountants:
The Times:
I could go on. And on. But you have the point. They say this every time. And then they stay. They stay because the people who were motivated by tax never came to London in the first place – they want to “Switzerland, Monaco and a host of other countries.” They came to London because it’s a very nice place to live. If you’re wealthy. And that won’t change.
All of the broadcast and print media’s fact-checking teams had been very busy. Who could blame them for not asking the obvious question, whether we’ve heard any of this before? Certainly not me.
So. Don’t believe the hype.
Oh, and to save you the trouble, here’s Chuck D
Waiting for Godot 
I like that old BBA comment that the 2008 changes “could bring about a seismic change to our society” which rather begs the question (pace M. Thatcher) of just who comprises ‘society’.
Angela Knight makes rather unfortunate reading these days…
Yes this is saber rattling and pandering to the middle classes along the same lines as the “stamp duty relief for first time buyers”.This is sound byting of the highest order.Remove non dom status and people will adapt.It will be a findind a suitable(tax efficient) replacement strategy.
The economic benefit will be more jobs in a new tax planning strategy.
The notion that people with resources will do nothing to ameliorate their additional tax liabilities if and when their non dom status is removed lacks credibility.