Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has defended the UK's non-domicile tax regime this morning (18 November) after no action was taken on the contentious issue in the 2022 Autumn Statement.
Hunt was asked on BBC Radio 4 earlier today about why he did not do anything about the UK's non-dom tax status and said HM Treasury did not give him estimates on how much abolishing it could have raised.
The chancellor added that he would prefer the super rich "stayed here and spent their money here".
He said: "They said to me that they were very unsure about the figures that were being bandied around, as far as the savings were concerned.
"Like me they wanted to be very sure they weren't doing things that damaged the UK's attractiveness. These are foreigners who could live easily in Ireland, France, Portugal, Spain, they all have these schemes. All things being equal, I would rather they stayed here and spent their money here."
Hunt also said he does not agree with the abolishment figures the Labour Party has given, adding: "The Treasury did not tell me it was going to help the economy to do this, that's why I chose not to do it".
He continued: "I'm not going to do anything that's going to damage the long-term attractiveness of the UK, even though it gives easy shots to opposition parties, I think it would be the wrong thing to do in terms of creating jobs in the UK."
Stephenson Harwood partner James Quarmby told Professional Adviser's sister title International Investment the move was "a welcome, but rare, outbreak of common sense".
"The chancellor stated that he didn't agree with claims that abolishing the non-dom regime would bring in more tax," he added. "Hunt further stated that he would rather wealthy foreigners spent their money in the UK."
Audit giant KPMG has also now suggested that the most likely outcome is the Treasury will seek a consultation on changes to the regime.
