On The Cards

Those of us who advocated an independent foreign policy have always been called unpatriotic by those who demanded slavish obedience to Washington, Riyadh and Tel Aviv. Now they are also abusing us for thinking that the Chancellor of the Exchequer and his wife ought to be domiciled in the United Kingdom for tax purposes. They would certainly not be treated as wholly separate entities if one of them tried to claim benefits.

Such a domicile requirement, while the ridiculous concept continued to exist, ought to be a condition of membership of either House of Parliament, as should not holding anything like an American green card. In itself, domicile has nothing to do with nationality or ethnicity, although its effects are such that it is probably already illegal under the anti-discrimination legislation that it long predates. Someone needs to bring that case. Moreover, most people who could be non-doms could not possibly afford the fee, and most of the rest would find it a false economy. This is a subsidy to the global megarich, and every other country apart from Ireland manages to do without it.

Where, exactly, does Rishi Sunak's wife pay tax on her overseas earnings? India is not especially tax efficient. If it turned out to be a British Overseas Territory or a Crown Dependency, subject to the sovereign jurisdiction of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, then her husband really would be finished.