Next Wednesday is budget day, when we ought to have an opportunity to let people keep more of their own money to boost the economy and help us out of the technical recession in which we're currently stuck.
Instead, the Chancellor is reportedly considering opting for socialist abolition of non-dom.
As the Financial Times reports, Treasury insiders have suggested this is one of his secret project list of revenue raising measures.
This is in spite of the fact that he had previously criticised the Labour Party's plan to scale back the measure.
Jacob Rees-Mogg claims we "should keep non-doms"
GB News
Now, there's no doubt that non Dom status is a misunderstood policy. It sounds like a boondoggle for people who are living here but have some foreign antecedents, but it needs myth busting.
Non Dom status is a way of rich people not avoiding tax in the UK, but of paying tax on what they bring into the UK. So every year non DOMS raise about £8billion to HMRC through income, capital gains and National Insurance. This is more than raised by inheritance tax, which as you probably know I'd like to see abolished.
Non Dom status merely ensures Individuals don't pay UK taxes on income earned overseas, but income or capital gains made in the UK is subject to UK taxes.
Non Doms contribute much more than just through this. Non doms live in the UK and often set up businesses, creating jobs and increasing commerce.
Jeremy Hunt will deliver his Budget next week GB NEWSBecause non doms are often some of the wealthiest people in the world, they're likely to use private healthcare, private schools and banking services, again adding to their GDP contribution.
By virtue of choosing to live here, they buy or rent property which comes with stamp duty. They have hired an average discretionary spending, meaning more money for HMRC through VAT, but also more money for British businesses and British jobs.
Countries such as Spain and Portugal have even copied this regime, quite simply because it works. It's economically beneficial. It's been predicted that abolishing the status would raise £3.6bn for the Treasury, but this is a very short sighted view and based on a misunderstanding of tax.
If we tax people who are not by birth British, they can leave the United Kingdom. They don't have to be here. They can go where they like.
Jacob Rees-Mogg shared his views on the "misunderstood policy"
GB News
There comes a point at which it simply won't be economically worth their while to live here, contributing to our economy.
It's only socialists who think in these simplistic terms that if we want more tax revenues, we simply tax people. More people are mobile.
People can make choices. Any real solution to raising revenues is to grow the economy, to increase the size of the pie altogether, which is what of course Margaret Thatcher did in the 1980s.
So, Mr. Hunt, I urge you to resist silly socialist pressures to resort to tax grabs and instead let the filling of the British pie grow so that everyone can enjoy their own slice.