From today's FT:
Digby Jones, the trade and investment minister, has warned that plans for a tax crackdown on non-domiciled foreigners living in the UK threaten London’s role as a world finance centre...
Lord Jones said the tax changes made it harder for him to sell Britain as a destination for skilled foreign workers and inward investment.
The minister, who said he was not consulted on the change, added: “I can give you five reasons as to why you should invest in Britain before you go and invest anywhere else in Europe. But maybe there were seven and now there are five.”...
Lord Jones had been frequently asked about the tax changes on trips to India and the Gulf. He feared they had reduced the attractions of Britain as a destination for skilled people.
“It has caused people to say ‘Does this mean you don’t want us?’,” he said, adding that there was a danger such changes meant the UK would lose its “badge as the place to come and bring your skill and work hard in the developed world“.
“I don’t want to be in the position where one morning we wake up and people are saying ‘Digby: no matter how good you are at doing what you do, the product isn’t as good as it was’.”
What do you expect if you raise taxes on the most internationally mobile group of people? It is legitimate to worry about the rich executive paying a lower rate of tax than the cleaner, but the answer is not to raise taxes on the executive, but cut them for the cleaner. It's a shame that the main politicial parties are so addicted to spending that they will choose the economically damaging course of action.