Almost every day in my work as a tax lawyer, I advise non doms on how to maximise their "tax efficiency". This is a nice way of saying I advise them on how they can live in Britain and, quite legally, pay almost no tax at all. It's true that generous tax breaks make gifted people move to Britain from abroad, but it is quite wrong that such people should basically pay nothing at all. Everyone who lives in Britain should make a fair contribution to public services and that includes non doms.
And in this we are basically unique. Every other major country imposes tax on the worldwide income of residents. The US tax citizens wherever they live, resident or not. That's why the Conservative proposals for a flat tax of £25,000 a year to cut inheritance tax made sense. A contribution without being excessive or scaring people off. The Labour Government have overcomplicated the proposal, have made a mess of it and created uncertainty. The fact Labour suffer from mindblowing economic imcompetence should not cause us to lose sight of the essential basic principle - everyone should make a fair contribution to public services and inheritance tax should be set at a fair level.
