Ban non-doms from funding political parties
The story in The Times this morning about the Lib Dems is further proof of just how knee-deep in non-dom money the political parties are.
I suppose in some ways you could look at it and venture to suggest that my repeated suggestion that the reason the parties don't drop the non-dom rules is because of the donors, is actually disproved by the Lib Dems hardline policy on the rules.
After all, if the Lib Dems can want to get rid of the rules and take the money at the same time, then all credit to them for being independent of the influence of the filthy lucre (I remain to be convinced, though - when the Lib Dems come to power, we'll see whether they stick to what they've said. Could be a while.)
There's a broader point which might be worth making. While we're having a debate about political funding at the moment, perhaps one proposal might be for non-doms to be forbidden from giving money to political parties.
Pay tax on your worldwide income, and then you can take part in the UK political process. Is that too much to ask?
Hell will freeze over of course, before the political parties voluntarily turn off the tap that funds them, but confidence in the political process must be being seriously damaged by the ongoing stories about wealthy tax exiles and their influence over government policy. Time to act.
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