Yours for a grand a week

Amongst the manifold issues now being eked out of the long awaited, and denser than dense, proposals for the changes to the remittance basis for non-domicilliaries with 8, or more, years of residence in the UK, it is apparent that the £30,000 charge will, for many, be £50,000.

For those wealthy foreigners who, like many genuinely non-domiciled individuals, naturally maintain the majority of their asset base outside of the UK whilst remitting to the UK only what they spend, the sourcing of funds for payment of the new charge will necessitate the remittance of additional non-UK income or gains. As this remittance will, in a straightforward circumstance, also be taxable in the UK, it will be necessary to remit £50,000. So that's £20,000 income tax or capital gains on the remittance, leaving a net £30,000 with which to settle the new charge. On the plus side, at least the extra £20,000 stands a chance of being treaty relievable.

For those who are in the UK at the behest of their foreign employer, and most likely to benefit from some manner of net pay or equalisation package, the employer will have to fund another £50,000 p.a., as a wages cost and, in some instances, national insurance contributions also.

Therefore, give or take, it will cost an extra £1,000 pw to live or work in the UK. Whilst it is correct to say that, for the odd Oligarch, this is irrelevant pocket change and that, for a far larger number of individuals, it is a step up from a low base anyway, the fact remains that many will quite rightly say that they were courted by the UK government and its agencies to come to the UK (or to extend their stay in the UK) and with the now outgoing tax code being a major, if not the only, selling point offered by UK Plc.

Put at its simplest, as a nation, is the UK now saying we are, all of a sudden, such an attractive proposition that people who, by definition, are not permanently or indefinitely bound to the UK, will choose to pay a surcharge of £1,000 per week for the privilege of contiuning to live or work in the UK in preference to many other possible countries ?

And, if so, is there any chance that this groovy deal will be available in reverse ? If the privilege of being in the UK comes with a price tag of £1,000 a week, what about those of us who would happily relinquish the honour in return for being paid £1,000 a week by the UK government to emigrate ?