Lewes MP Norman Baker led a parliamentary debate today in which he called for tax rules to be changed so that UK-based millionaires, who claim to live elsewhere, pay their full share. The full text of the debate can be found here in Hansard.
Despite Labour having called for a change to rules relating to such individuals as early as 1994, and having pledged to review those rules almost eight years ago, the law still allows many individuals to avoid tax by claiming they are based elsewhere.
Mr Baker attacked the government's record, and also called for David Cameron to get tough on Tory donors and candidates who fail to pay taxes in this country.
Lib Dem Norman Baker argued:
"Why should my hard-working constituents in Lewes, Newhaven, Seaford, Polegate and elsewhere, who do an honest day's work and pay their taxes in full, have to put up with a regime that sees freeloading millionaires swan around avoiding tax apparently with the help of Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs and the Treasury?
"In 2008, we had an announcement that represented the worst of all possible worlds. It did nothing to deal with the rich oligarchs of whom the Government appear to be so enamoured these days, and yet it introduced a £30,000 poll tax for non-domicile qualifiers, which hits people such as university lecturers temporarily resident in my constituency and elsewhere. In other words, it clobbers the small fry and lets the big fish off the hook.
"Further consideration must be given to this matter, and not simply for reasons of income, fairness and equity but because of the integrity of the political process—something that has been the focus of many of our minds for some time, not least because of the MPs' expenses issue.
"We cannot have clean politics in this country until we set and apply a very clear principle, which is that no Member of Parliament, whether in the Commons or the Lords, should be sitting here if they declare themselves to be non-domiciled for tax purposes.
"I hope that the Government will first commit to review the non-dom rules and, secondly, that they will undertake before the election to take urgent action to ensure that no Member can sit in either the Commons or the Lords unless they have given a clear indication that they are paying taxation in full in this country and are domiciled here. If the Government are not prepared to do that, they must explain why.
Government Minister Stephen Timms responded by stating that the government agreed that all elected representatives should be full UK taxpayers, but rejected any suggestion that broader changes to the tax system are required.
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