Will Lord Ashcroft surrender his Non-Dom status now the Tories are in power?

[humpy07]

And will he repay all the tax he has evaded over the years?

[VHG]

Surely if he was non-dom he has not actually evaded any tax as he was "living" abroad.

Plenty of others do it - pop stars, film stars, sports stars.

The first thing Lewis Hamilton did when he won the F1 championship was to move abroad, Switzerland I think.

[Quizmonster]

Ashcroft assured Hague that he would abandon his non-dom status and pay taxes as appropriate when he was elevated to the peerage ten years ago. It seems Hague found out only a few months ago that he had done no such thing...and nor had he paid a penny of the taxes promised.

[jake-the-peg]

Evaded or avoided - hmmm

Interesting this one - Normally yes as a non domicile he's avoided - perfectly legally not evaded.

However he seems to have accepted a peerage on the basis that he would pay UK tax - which he renaged on.

But that was an agreement it's not (yet) a legal requirement and I don't think his agreement had the force of law - I don't think there were any signatures on paper.

So I'd have to say he acted legally if immorally

Of course he's still at it. He's declared his *UK* income not his Worldwide income (http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/mar/
01/lord-ashcroft-reveals-non-dom
) which normal UK taxpayers like you and I have to.

Hopefully the Lib Dems will be able to get their big brothers to sort him out because otherwise this weasel is just going to be a continuing embaressment to them

[bibblebub]

no

[olddutch]

I agree with bibblebub

[R1Geezer]

It's avoidance and we'd all dfo it if we could. Tell me hand on heart anyone, if you could avoid taxation you would right? Ashcroft and co are personally wealthy but if you stripped all that and slung him in dungeon, you wouldn't earn enough to print the redundancy notices for all the Noo Labour non jobs that'll have to go!

[janbee]

NO.... would you ?

[craft1948]

My daughter's boss is a non-dom in the Cayman Islands purely for tax avoidance reasons...........the good part I suppose is that he employs quite a few people in the UK.

[R1Geezer]

it's very simple steve, avoidance is legal, evasion isn't, ask Al capone!

[R1Geezer]

working and signing is fraud not really comparable to the issue here

[Graudian]

Ashcroft 'cleared' up the confusion over his tax status in this interview with Andrew Neil on election night.

http://playpolitical....w-to-andrew-neil.html

[Quizmonster]

Zac Goldsmith, another Tory multi-millionaire, was also a non-dom when he first put himself forward as a candidate in the recent election in which he won the seat. He gave that status up only when Cameron insisted, having foreseen the fuss that would ensue if someone supposedly not "living" in the UK - although of course he did - actually became one of his legislators!

Have a look at this comment from Lord Oakeshott, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman at the time. He said, “Cameron must sack Zac Goldsmith as a candidate now. He’s not fit to sit in parliament, when he’s claimed non-dom status all his life to keep his offshore hundreds of millions free of income, capital gains or inheritance tax. He must pay the millions he’s dodged to the British taxman.”

I wonder what old Oakey has to say now they're on the same team! And do you suppose Goldsmith HAS "paid the millions he's dodged"?

[sherminator]

R1 Geezer I can hand on heart say if i was on the money that Lewis hamilton is on I would have no problem paying tax
(I have no problem paying it now so the burden would only be easier the richer i got!)