Reform UK would charge ultra-wealthy ‘non doms’ £250,000 and give the cash to the lowest paid
Reform UK Leader Nigel Farage launches the policy (Image: Getty)
Workers on low wages would receive up to £1,000 each year under plans unveiled by Nigel Farage to lure wealthy “non doms” back to the UK. The world’s richest people would be invited to apply for a £250,000 Britannia Card, giving them the right to live in Britain and pay taxes only on income generated in this country.
A Reform UK government would funnel card payments directly to the 10% of people in full-time work on the lowest pay, giving them an estimated £600 and £1,000 tax-free every year. One of the goals would be to ensure being in work always pays more than relying on benefits.
Reform leader Mr Farage said: “We are the party of working people, and we’re building a Britain where wealth and opportunity are shared, not hoarded.
“By ensuring that every pound contributed by the wealthy goes directly to those who get up early and work hard, we’re creating a fairer, stronger and more prosperous nation for all.”
It follows the Labour government’s abolition of non-domiciled tax status in April. This allowed people whose permanent home was outside the UK to avoid paying tax on money made elsewhere in the world.
Reform would re-introduce the status for those buying the Britannia Card, said Mr Farage. He insisted the measure would mean the UK received more tax because it would reverse an exodus of the world’s ultra-wealthy, who are abandoning the UK to live in places such as Dubai.
As well as paying for the card, they would pay income tax on UK earnings as well as taxes such as VAT and Stamp Duty, Mr Farage said.
The proposal was attacked as “a bonanza for billionaires” by Labour chair Ellie Reeves. She said:“Not only is this a golden giveaway to the rich, but experts warn this will leave a massive black hole in the country’s finances that working people will be left to pick up the bill for.”
But Mr Farage said the average income tax from a non-dom was £120,000-a-year, in addition to other taxes.
Launching the policy, he said: “Many talented people are leaving, and we want as a party as many entrepreneurs, as many risk-takers, as many job creators, as many people paying lots of tax, as many people investing huge sums of money – we want as many of them as possible to be in our country.”
He added: “If we’re successful with this then over the course of a few years tens of thousands of people will come to the United Kingdom on this ticket, and if the British economy turns around from its current dismal state, they’ll keep on coming.
“And even if after lots have come, we’re going to get a trickle, not a flood. Provided they’re still paying their average £120,000-a-year income tax, provided they’re still investing the billions that they do in business, in job creation, in risk, we’ll be in a much better place than we are right now.”
He stressed that the policy was about supporting working people, and warned that while people with property and assets had grown richer since the 2008 banking crisis, people who worked hard but did not own assets felt they had been unfairly treated.
Reform UK’s Zia Yusuf, the former party chair who helped develop the policy, said he was “confident” the Britannia Card would be taken up by a large number of wealthy foreigners.
However tax expert Dan Neidle claimed the policy could cost £34 billion by slashing taxes paid by some people already living in the UK.
