Low-paid workers could receive up to £1,000 a year under ‘Britannia Card’ proposal by Reform UK to provide tax exemptions for non-dom individuals.
Reform leader Nigel Farage said that it would sell “Britannia Cards” to high-net-worth individuals for £250,000, in exchange for a regime that exempts all overseas income and assets from UK taxation, including inheritance tax, for a decade.
Farage said there was a “very rapid exodus” of talented entrepreneurs because of Labour’s reforms to non-dom tax rules.
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He said he expected the Labour party to introduce a similar policy “within a year”, amid reports that chancellor Rachel Reeves is considering watering down non-dom tax rules.
Zia Yusuf, Reform’s head of governmental efficiency, said the income would be distributed evenly by HMRC among the lowest 10% of UK earners, within 90 days of the end of the tax year.
“This is a transfer of wealth from the internationally wealthy, who I remind you are not here currently, this is a really important point – we wouldn’t be getting any tax revenue from these people without policy like this – to people who are grafting hardest for the least in this country.”
Yusuf cited a Bloomberg analysis of 5 million company filings, which showed a spike in departing business leaders over recent months, with more than 4,400 disclosing an overseas move in the past year.
Reform estimates its Britannia workers’ dividend would provide a tax-free annual payout of £600 to £1,000 to around 2.5 million low-paid full-time workers, depending on the uptake by wealthy individuals.
In a press conference this morning, Farage said that wealthy business leaders returning to the UK would pay other taxes that benefit the UK economy. The £250k “landing fee” would last 10 years but could be renewed on expiration.
“The upfront quarter of a million is actually the tip of the iceberg of what these people will spend in revenues and taxes in this country if they come back,” he said.
“Just think of the average stamp duty they’re paying on houses they’re buying in Westminster or Chelsea… just think of the VAT they’re paying – these people are the big spenders.”
He added that the policy will “generate a lot more wealth into the coffers”.
A Labour party spokesperson told the Guardian: “Nigel Farage can brand this whatever he wants – the reality is his first proper policy is a golden ticket for foreign billionaires to avoid the tax they owe in this country.
“As ever with Reform, the devil is in the detail. This giveaway would reduce revenues raised from the rich that would have to be made up elsewhere – through tax hikes on working families or through Farage’s promise to charge them to use the NHS.”
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