A new report from the LSE’s 'International Inequalities Institute' examines the who, what, & where of UK ‘non-doms’, revealing a complex story of the current British economic elite beyond the attention-grabbing headlines about Russian oligarchs.
#Sociology often faces criticism - especially from the right-wing press & right-wing politicians.
I'm sure it's not a coincidence that sociology is one of the few academic disciplines to have taken Global inequality very seriously, for a very long time.
'The UK’s ‘non-doms’: Who are they, what do they do, & where do they live?', by Arun Advani, David Burgherr, Mike Savage & Andy Summers', examines & analyses the historical legacies, as well as the contemporary configuration, of global inequality.
Global inequality is analysed through interdisciplinary research by economists, historians, & sociologists "to examine the nature of inequalities, how they emerged, & their ongoing implications in the present." - Gurminder Bhambra, British Sociological Association President.
‘Non-doms’ are people who live in the UK but claim on their tax return that their permanent home (domicile) is elsewhere, enabling them to avoid paying tax on overseas income & only pay it on that portion of their income which is earned in Britain or is brought in from overseas.
0.3% of British taxpayers earning under £100,000 in 2018 had claimed non-dom status, while 27% of taxpayers earning £1-2 million had.
Two in five top earners in the oil industry & more than one in 10 residents of London's wealthiest neighbourhoods have claimed “non-dom” status.
This practice emerged with the introduction of Income Tax in the late eighteenth century, despite some attempts to abolish the category. It is unique to Britain & emerged in the context of empire to enable the wealthy to ringfence their colonial gains away from national scrutiny.
The Napoleonic Wars, during which the new Income Tax was introduced, occurred during the height of colonial extraction of wealth from India & the peak of the transatlantic trade in humans. The East India Company, Royal African Company & others had MPs on their payrolls.
Then - as now - political connections were leveraged to organised sustained resistance to increased direct taxation &, as Patrick O’Brien argues, the legislation that subsequently emerged ‘provided taxpayers with numerous possibilities for evasion’.
This included exempting foreign income & assets – income & assets derived from empire & colonial ventures – from taxation in Britain.
With the end of formal empire, it might have been assumed that the structures that facilitated these avoidances would have been dismantled.
Instead, they increased in number & became available to a wider global elite willing to reside in Britain.
The analysis in the report points to the transformation of this elite after empire, while also highlighting empire’s centrality to its ongoing connections.
The number of individuals who have ever claimed ‘non-dom’ status over the last 20 years make up about 1% of the UK’s population. 93% of them were born abroad, with an additional 4% having spent considerable time abroad.
As Advani, Burgherr, Savage and Summers show, most ‘non-doms’ live in London with some outposts in Oxford and Cambridge.
In effect, while not being integrated into the tax system, they are integrated into the highest political and cultural circles.
Their political interests are catered for – one might say, represented without taxation – & they are a determining part of a British culture of inequality that venerates wealth & allows poverty to grow.
"There is compelling support for the public perception that non-doms are disproportionately highly affluent individuals who can be viewed as a part of a global elite."
This research makes a vital contribution to a new sociology of inequality, & has the potential to transform the research & policy landscape. In a period charcterised by the worst #CostOfLivingCrisis for 60 years, tax breaks for the very wealthy certainly deserve further scrutiny.
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Andrew Neil criticises others for making 'Nazi analogies', but here he is, referring to an article in the Mail, amplified by Toby Young, suggesting a proposed boycott by a 'Pro-Palestine group' of venues showing #eurovision24 is "straight out of the early Nazi playbook".
The 'early Nazi playbook' involves propaganda, which like contemporary political & media propaganda works primarily not by lies, but rather by selective representation of information, distortion, fearmongering, demonisation of minority groups & misleading partisan misinformation.
The Mail's claim, amplified by Young & compared to "the early Nazi playbook" by Neil is 'Venues across the country have been forced to close their doors as they fear for their staff's safety after Pro-Palestine groups instructed their followers to hound pubs showing the contest'.
Divisive far-right extremist grifter Steve Laws is dangerous: he has a long & well documented history of using racist & Islamophobic rhetoric, harassing people, & trying to get decent people sacked. Laws' hateful rhetoric was even too toxic for Richard Tice's Reform UK.
Former UKIP candidate & far-right extremist Laws is a prominent so-called 'migrant hunter' who gets off on filming boats arriving in Dover. He constantly uses grotesque 1930s-style dehumanising rhetoric, & pushes the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory.
For decades, Big Tobacco cast doubt on the link between cancer & smoking. Today, doubts about climate science is fuelled by misinformation spread by politicians, news media & think tanks, invariably funded by those who benefit from fossil fuels.
The phrase "the spawn of communism" derives from early twentieth century US #nativism - the political strategy of promoting the interests of "native-born" inhabitants over those of immigrants.
But where does it come from, & what might it tell us about Jacob Rees-Mogg?
This thread is about how nativist ideology gave rise to the first US 'Red Scare', & how, long before TalkRadio or Fox & GB "News" existed, populist Christian broadcaster 'Father' Coughlin stoked the fears & prejudices of millions of his listeners using divisive nativist rhetoric.
The phrase "spawn of Communism" is now used by 'anti-woke' alt- & far-right nativists to describe everything from Democrats & socialists, through LGBTQ+ rights, CRT, & feminism, to 'identity politics' & 'environmentalism' - anyone, or anything, perceived by them to pose a threat.
GB "News"/TalkTV regular, Chair of the National Jewish Assembly & JC columnist, Gary Mond, liked posts by far-right extremist Pamela Geller (banned from entering the UK) & posted on FB in reference to Muslims “all [of] civilisation… is at war with these evil bastards”.
In January 2022, it was reported that then Board of Deputies Senior VP Gary Mond had been asked to “step down from his duties” while an investigation took place.
Evidence appeared to show Mond had liked two posts made by Geller in 2017, during his 6-yr stint sitting on the Board’s Defence Division, including one saying France was “finished” after voters picked current President Emmanuel Macron over far-right challenger Marine Le Pen.
Tory donor Bassim Haidar is the latest multimillionaire to say he'll leave the UK to avoid paying £millions in tax following plans to scrap the “non-dom” regime, which has allowed him & 68,800 other non-doms to avoid paying UK tax on overseas income for 225 years.
Haidar, who owns “more than 10 properties” in central London, including a £20 MILLION flat near Sloane Square, "gave" the @Conservatives £450,000 last year - including £10,000 worth of advertising to Lee Anderson in November, who promptly joined Reform UK. search.electoralcommission.org.uk/?currentPage=2…
For decades the UK news media, owned by fellow non-dom billionaires, regularly run stories warning how 'superrich wealth creators' will leave Britain.
It's a bold & often-made claim, but is there any truth in it? Will many - or indeed any - of our 68,800 non-doms leave Britain?