Non-Domicile Status Should Be Limited To 10 Years - Cable

11.25.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 3rd Oct 2007

The Liberal Democrats today called on Gordon Brown to make super-rich non-domiciles pay their fair share of tax.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor, Vince Cable MP called on Mr Brown to remove non-domicile status from anyone who had been resident in Britain for 10 years or more.

Commenting, Dr Cable said:

"Since the Liberal Democrats first raised this issue, an all-party consensus has emerged that something needs to be done to make non-doms pay their fair share.

"When I went to a Labour Party fringe at their conference last week, there was support from Labour Ministers. Even the Tories are proposing higher taxes on non-doms.

"George Osborne's proposal this week is unfortunately far too optimistic in its revenue assumptions and is impractical. A poll tax on non-doms would be prohibitive for the large number of non-domiciles of modest means, but would be a flea bite for the fat cats. The Tories' charge would probably seem to Mr Abramovich not much more than a round of drinks at half time at Stamford Bridge.

"Our proposal seeks to deal with the abuse of the system, whereby people keep their privileged tax status for many years, and indeed pass it from one generation to the next.

"What really sticks in the throat is when people become active in political life, particularly as members of the House of Lords or as advisers to ministers, who turn out to have privileged tax positions despite having lived in Britain for many years.

"Gordon Brown commissioned an inquiry into this problem five years ago, but refused to publish the results, and has even sought to hide the findings. He must now confront the issue."