Reform UK’s new plan lets rich foreigners dodge tax while paying crumbs to Britain’s poorest workers

Reform UK has unveiled a headline-grabbing policy to offer wealthy foreigners and returning British expats a tailor-made tax regime, for a one-off price tag of £250,000. The funds raised, the party claims, would be funnelled directly to the country’s lowest-paid workers.

Labelled the “Britannia Card,” the scheme will be formally launched by party leader Nigel Farage later this week. It promises buyers a 10-year residency permit and a return to the abolished “remittance basis” of taxation, shielding their overseas earnings and assets from the UK taxman. Inheritance tax? Gone entirely.

In effect, Reform is proposing to sell an exemption from Britain’s tax system. The offer, aimed squarely at high-net-worth individuals, comes with a catch—£250,000 up front. But the party insists this is no “golden visa.” Instead, they frame it as a patriotic donation: a way for the rich to “immediately contribute to British society.”

The twist? All the money raised would be paid out, tax-free, to the bottom 10% of full-time earners. Reform’s calculations suggest payouts of £600 to £1,000 a year for around 2.5 million workers, distributed automatically via HMRC after each tax year.

Under the party’s lowest estimate—6,000 Britannia Cards sold per year—the Treasury would collect £1.5 billion annually, enough for a £600 dividend. A higher take-up of 10,000 cards would generate £2.5 billion, pushing payments to £1,000 per worker.

But critics have already begun sounding the alarm. Labour’s response was swift and scathing, branding the scheme “a golden ticket for foreign billionaires to avoid tax.” They warned that such tax carve-outs would slash revenue from the rich, forcing the burden back onto ordinary Britons through either tax hikes or charges for NHS services.

Despite the policy’s populist packaging, it effectively revives the non-dom status scrapped by Labour in 2024 and overhauled by former Tory Chancellor Jeremy Hunt. Reform’s plan flies in the face of that direction, restoring preferential treatment for the ultra-wealthy in exchange for a one-time cash injection.

The scheme offers up to a decade of tax breaks, without requiring a recurring payment. That, opponents argue, risks institutionalising a two-tier tax system: one for wealthy newcomers and another for everyone else.

The policy’s fine print remains fuzzy. Reform hasn’t clarified what qualifies someone as “high-net-worth,” nor how HMRC would integrate the fee into its existing enforcement framework. There is no draft legislation, no eligibility thresholds, and no indication of how applicants’ income or assets would be verified.

Still, the political messaging is clear. With Reform surging in the polls—leading at 34% in a recent Sky/YouGov tracker—Farage is positioning the party as the new champion of Britain’s working poor. But instead of wage rises or labour protections, he’s betting on fiscal theatrics and wealth redistribution funded by foreign elites.

A Reform spokesperson defended the move, saying: “We are serious about repairing the social contract. It’s time workers feel the benefit of high-net-worth individuals entering the country.”

But the backlash is mounting. Critics see it as cynical symbolism—a flashy attempt to grab headlines, buy votes in the Red Wall, and court the global rich all at once. Questions linger over enforcement, equity, and whether Britain should sell tax immunity to those who can afford it.

For now, Reform insists the policy is just the beginning. “We are taking policy formulation very seriously internally,” the spokesperson added. “As can be seen by today’s announcement