It’s a funny old world when the pleas of pensioners, farmers and shopkeepers fall on deaf ears but a Labour chancellor flies to Davos to break the news that she’s “listened to the concerns of the non-dom community” – and will be watering down her assault on their tax arrangements.

Let’s take a look at the mega rich, and we can start with the news that nearly 11,000 millionaires left the UK in 2024 – many of whom would have had non-dom status which protects ultra rich foreign nationals from paying tax in the UK on their overseas earnings and wealth.

At least, that’s how it worked for 200 years before the government followed through with its commitment to end the special status – building on work that began under the previous government.

In case you’re of the view that this country can do perfectly well without the globally mobile mega rich, consider that research from the Adam Smith Institute this week calculated that between them those 11,000 newly departed millionaires paid the same amount in tax as half a million average UK taxpayers, meaning the Treasury will need to find 500,000 new taxpayers to make up for the loss.

© City A.M.