Therese Raphael, Columnist

Will Sunak Test the Love of Britain’s Top 1%?

Abolishing Britain’s “non-dom” tax status is politically expedient. The economic case is far less certain.

November 14, 2022 at 5:00 AM UTC

Therese Raphael is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion covering health care and British politics. Previously, she was editorial page editor of the Wall Street Journal Europe.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Photographer: Anadolu Agency/Anadolu

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When UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak imposed a windfall tax on oil and gas companies in May, Labour leader Keir Starmer — who’d advocated for the levy for months — claimed an I-told-you-so moment. Now Starmer has his eyes on what in many ways would be a bigger U-turn by the novice premier: closing the loophole that enables the international elite in the UK to protect overseas wealth from the taxman.

Last week Starmer claimed that ending the benefit would provide £3.2 billion ($3.8 billion) a year in revenue. Sunak batted away the challenge, but clearly the government is on the back foot as it finalizes the Nov. 17 budget statement. Sunak is under pressure to find new taxes that the public will swallow.