ISTR that there was a recent case quoted of a multimillionaire who took a private jet and flew outside British Airspace in order to achieve non-dom status (HIGNFY - 13/4). Faced with the determination and means to avoid tax, there would seem to be little that HMRC can do about it. If the uber-rich decide that they don't want to pay, they usually don't. Osborne is after the best tax take he can get from this sector, and the information provided to him suggested that reducing the tax rate to 45p would make more than leaving it at 50p. It remains to be seen if he was right. Griping about the unfairness of the system for individuals, when HMRC (Dave Hartness) are brokering deals with Vodafone et al that are costing the Treasury billions without censure, seems a little naive. As a pensioner whose income falls some way short of the national average wage, I'm hardly into the avoidance game myself. However, I am not so unwordly as to believe that legal tax avoidance is akin to a national sport, and, as in all professional sports, money talks.

thurgarton