Letters: Taxing issues

Ron Greer (Letters, 17 April) does well to draw attention to the issue of non-domiciled foreigners resident in the United Kingdom.

Essentially, the same complaint has been made in the past against some of our own wealthy citizens who moved abroad to avoid high rates of taxation in this country. Indeed, some well-known and admired persons still opt to take that course of action and others might soon join them, given the penal new 50 per cent top rate of income tax.

People can, if they wish, leave these shores, but whatever nation's passport or passports they hold, they cannot take their fixed property with them.

A policy shift, from taxes on the personto the collection of the annual rental value of land, would ensure that all who have such a tangible stake in this country, whether formal residents or not, whether British citizens or not, whether individual persons or bodies corporate, made their appropriate contribution to the public revenue.

Land is highly visible, cannot be moved and its ownership can, as a last resort and with appropriate legislation, be rendered forfeit upon persistent non-payment of the due national land rent charge.

DAVID K MILLS, Hutton, Brentwood, Essex