Labour’s non-dom tax proposal is not an attack on London

It is easy to characterise, as the right-wing press was quick to do, Labour’s two tax changes, on the Mansion Tax and on non-doms, as being “anti-London”.

Yes of course, it will be London that is most affected by the changes. But that is simply because the capital is by far the richest region of the nation and is becoming more so daily.

These policies are what the Labour Party is all about. We must be a party that aims to redistribute from rich to poor, or we are nothing. The idea of trickle-down, promoted for so long as part of a Thatcherite, neo-liberal agenda, has never worked.

The latest Labour measures are, in fact, pretty mild. I have argued in the past that the Mansion Tax, while very welcome, should be the start of a process of a wider look at property taxes. The Council Tax was a hastily cobbled together to replace the political disaster that faced the Tories with their Poll Tax, which proved to be Thatcher’s nemesis.

I am worried, too, about the fact that the money is supposedly hypothecated to the NHS, when local government is in dire need of extra funding, too. There are safeguards in the proposal to ensure that those who are asset-rich and cash-poor will not be penalised in the short-term but, instead, any extra payments will be rolled up so that they are payable only when the property is sold. These need to be emphasised to allay concerns.

Therefore, the Mansion Tax is to be welcomed and is, indeed, popular on the doorstep away from a few very affluent areas.

As for the non-dom changes announced this week, let’s consider the argument of those opposing them. They suggest that unless these very rich people, many of whom actually live here but get non-dom status because of having foreign grandparents, have these amazing tax concessions, they will leave and go live in Geneva or the Cayman Islands.

Hardly. In fact, most places, USA included, have tougher regimes in relation to foreign nationals earning money from abroad and would tax them anyway. So not only would few people up sticks just because they have to pay tax, but there are few places to go to anyway.

While London plc may indeed pay a bit more in taxes under these rules, that is to be welcomed. If the money goes on paying nurses in Scotland – or in Yorkshire or Cornwall – so be it. While as London Mayor I will defend the city’s interests, that does not include making the rest of the nation poorer. Indeed quite the opposite.

Christian Wolmar is seeking selection by the Labour Party to be its candidate for Mayor of London in 2016. In the three years since he launched his selection campaign, he has developed a range of policy ideas for London, while giving talks at more than 80 of the city’s parliamentary constituency Labour parties.