Welcome to my blog. I am a former local journalist who now works in PR and a Conservative and community activist in Woking and Horsell. This blog will keep updated on local issues as well as my interests and quirky news stories.
I spotted this earlier on in The Telegraph, taking a brief break from its one decent scoop of the decade. Back in April, the Treasury apparently levvied a £30,000 standard charge on all non-domiciles, regardless of income in exchange for not paying income or capital gains tax.
How interesting. I seem to recall this policy from somewhere else, namely here (read down page), George Osborne’s brilliant party conference announcement in 2007 on Inheritance Tax, which confused the PM enough for him to bottle a November general election he would probably have won.
At the time, Alistair Darling said the £25,000 levy “would raise only a fraction of [the money] needed and said Mr Osborne had inflated the number of non-domicile people.”
“Yet again, this is an example of where the Tories are making promises on tax which they can’t afford to pay for. He is making a promise he hasn’t got the money to pay for. If you do that, you create the very instability which is the last thing the economy needs and people in this country would pay for that.”
Clearly, it wasn’t such a bad idea after all. At least in Mr Darling’s mind.
