Personal tax is in essence the liscence to stay in this country, if you are a tourist then you should not be expected to be paying direct taxes, any other reason, you should start paying proportionate UK tax wherever the income is declared to come from. If they dont, we, the domiciled tax payer, pays their contribution and this is not philanthropic (some tax is paid towards culture, not much admittedly). These wealthy individuals come as non-domiciled to the UK and London in particular because the place offers an interesting and protected environment. Should they elect to leave for tax reasons, then fine. As for philanthropy, there are not that many wealthy individuals who understand the arts and culture, just as the people who encouraged selling sub-prime money they are fueled by greed. So, to encourage giving by the weathy, I can only suggest that you give them a tax break in return to satiate their greed motivation. Perhaps we should have a Art & culture tax on the corporations.

Richard, Bath, UK

Do we think we are the center of the art world and there are no fabulous alternatives? I was so sick of this 'fleece the rich, hang the consequences' attitude that I left the U.K. and came to America - sure there are problems here but looking a gift horse in the mouth is not one of them.
Which bright spark thought this policy up? Clearly not one with any vision or care as to what this will do to keeping Britain as a leading art power. Should other nations stand idly by as their art exports are taxed at 40% when entering the U.K. or should they reciprocate and slap a prohibitive massive duty on British art exports coming into their countries?
If this comes into law as proposed Britain is handing other world powers a golden opportunity to leapfrog our carefully honed position in the art world that has taken centuries to create.
This policy is pathetic and wreaks of envy, which, I am ashamed to say, is something that Britain can rightly claim to be the world leader at.
Another disgrace!

Peter, New York, USA

Has the Queen paid any tax recently. I remember she was "thinking about it".
It would seem sensible to drag a few quid in from this source whilst the government is at it.

Phill, Manchester, England

The proposed tax changes will make England less attractive to a number of international businessmen , not enough to make all of them leave but certainly enough to make some of them leave.

In these slightly uncertain times most businessmen are interested in saving money or building reserves - thus they are less interested in the oppertunities this country provides rather the savings that they can make.

Before the government runs the risk of making a decision which will be almost impossible to reverse it should FULLY understand the implications.

Personally I do not believe that this decision could have been studied in sufficient depth , in the time it was brought up by the Tories and stolen by Labour

ahacking, Monte Carlo, Monaco

I am highly unlikely to fall in to non-dom category. However much as been made of the allegation that these people pay no tax. Really?. How do they avoid VAT, Fuel Tax, Stamp duty, legal costs etc . I suspect they spend more here than the average Brit, and must pay a significant amount of tax, the receipts of that will vanish with them. I would guess the average high spender pays more than 30k in taxes

KW, Bognor Regis, England

Wait a while,this Government specialises in U turns once the blind spot in their thinking is pointed out to them.

robert everitt, wolverhampton,

This new new tax ruling is possibly one of the most badly concieved, ridiculous ideas - the potential impact for the UK economy is potentially devastating and it comes along at a time of unprecedented economic uncertainty. The whole idea has been borne out of jealousy and a total lack of appreciation of the full effects by the socialists currently running the country. But then why would they care, the taxes will just keep on going up....

William, Chelsea,

This was to be expected under a government of Philistines. Just surprising that it did not come sooner.

Bill, Suzhou, China

No great art anywhere else in Europe? All sounds like special pleading to me.

Colin , Shrewsbury,

i am sure we will survive. Most rich people just buy the art for investment anyway , and use it as a ticket to enter the uk. We never see it, we have enough as it is

kay, london,

Mark of Dubai is right about the 90 day limit but can he tell me how it is tracked. My passport is stamped on entry but there is no record of my exit. I have to keep my boarding cards and copies of my itineraries just in case. Could I ask for an exit stamp ?
Vis a vis the 30000 pound charge that surely is peanuts for the mega-rich that the director of the Tate is so concerned about. I couldn't afford 3000 pounds let alone 30000 so I have to be scrupulous .

Paul, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA

Of course this Government would want us to believe that it is better to hope that the super-rich may leave us the odd crumb of art, rather than making sure that the super-rich and the the super-large corporations pay as much in tax as ordinary people - why have Governments that wait for crumbs of cake rather than have taxation that buys enough bread with plenty of cash to spare to by the odd artwork.

hock, london, uk

Actually Dalya - regarding your last line - it is going to work out at 90 days in the tax year ( average over 4 years) to be liable for UK tax - that is more than other higher tax European countries - which have 183 days.

mark, Dubai,

That should be 90 days (average over 4 years) in last line I think.

mark, Dubai,

Who cares for those great philanthropists of the museum world?? They will only give it to a talentless tracy emin esque artists of this century. We should let the artist work for their money. My little sister inspires me so much more than any of this talentless work that I've seen recently in the Tate and the Baltic (Newcastle).

Steve, Newcastle, UK