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Dear John,
Congratulations on your new job. I was delighted to see someone with a reputation for pragmatism and realism being put in charge of the nation’s purse. It is immensely reassuring to ordinary people, as they battle with the rising cost of living and to businesses, as they grapple to prosper in an increasingly competitive world.
I am sure you would agree with me that we need investment in order to flourish, that without people and their companies committing their money to the UK, our economy will not be able to grow and flourish, and you will not have the income you require to focus on the improvements you and Andy Burnham so wish to make.
To that end, I am writing in the hope you will see the sense of introducing a “Robin Hood tax”. Yes, it is a wealth levy, aimed at taking from the richest to benefit the poor. But this one brings with it the added guarantee of greater consumer and capital spending and jobs creation.
This would be a charge, a golden ticket or visa, call it what you will, aimed at persuading wealthy foreigners to invest in our nation. It would seek to attract the world’s mobile rich (subject to their acceptability, of course) to the UK, in return for making a fair tax contribution.
They would be able to reside here, pay a yearly flat fee and keep their foreign holdings free of UK taxes. I suggest the annual payment should be £500,000, which I believe would not be too high as to drive them away. Such a charge at that level would be in keeping with the deals offered elsewhere by other centres and countries, ahead of us in attempting to woo them.
Because that is the point. We live in a highly-connected world. People, provided they have the means and desire to do so, can base themselves, and work from, pretty much anywhere. Where they choose to live reaps the reward of them employing people and spending in the locale and country. That is why other locations are falling over themselves to attract them – they are an easy, affordable, no-risk way of driving prosperity and growth.
A renewable, 20-year contract would offer the guaranteed stability and certainty they seek, while securing valuable tax revenues to help boost public services for us all.
The alternative is that we do nothing. In which case, we should be under no illusion, they will live somewhere else and that place will gain from their presence.
This tax would also send a signal to the world that you and your colleagues are not anti-wealth, but pro-wealth creation. It would serve as incontrovertible recognition that the UK welcomes rich folk, provided they obey our laws and they pay a not-inconsiderable sum for the privilege. It would encourage others to follow suit, either as individuals or encouraging their businesses to invest here.
Contrary to what some on the left might suppose, there is no downside. There is, if we allow ourselves to be perceived as not being interested, as not wanting them, of turning them and their money away. That would arise if we only followed a policy of imposing taxes on our domestic wealthy – something that has strong traction among members of your party. Then we would be seen as anti-wealth creation, anti-business.
We must be proactive. The days of the UK sitting back and just expecting rich people to want to come have gone. They are being assailed by others; we have to follow suit. We have much to offer, especially in the newly confident, reawakened UK that you and Andy intend to foster.
By going on the front foot in this fashion, we show the rest of the world the UK is truly open for business. They will come and we will gain.
Yours sincerely,
Chris Blackhurst
The Independent is the world’s most free-thinking news brand, providing global news, commentary and analysis for the independently-minded. We have grown a huge, global readership of independently minded individuals, who value our trusted voice and commitment to positive change. Our mission, making change happen, has never been as important as it is today.
