Tax return
Sir: Anthony J. Burnet makes two interesting points in his comment on my ‘Economics of Mr Brown’ (Letters, 26 January). The first is that my questioning of the proposed new taxes on the worldwide income of non-domiciled foreigners should have been ‘tempered’ with a recognition of the fact that the US does just that: taxes the worldwide income of foreigners resident in America. He is quite right, and can’t be held responsible for not having read my fuller discussion of the issue in the Daily Telegraph (9 January), in which I explicitly recognised that fact. But I added that this disparity might well be offset by the fact that foreigners in the UK pay a sales tax, known as VAT, of 17.5 per cent, while Brits residing in America generally pay 8 per cent or less. If the goal is equality of tax treatment, both countries would have to rip up their tax codes and start over.
Equally important, Mr Burnet claims that foreigners living in America receive ‘no recognition of their charitable donations unless they happen to be to US-based charities.’ True, but only in so far as it goes. Most UK educational and cultural institutions, as well as others, have US branches, known as ‘American Friends of . . .’ For example, my wife is president of American Friends of Wigmore Hall; we regularly contribute to it and other UK-based institutions by writing cheques to the American Friends of this or that organisation, something Brits living in the US can easily do — and deduct those contributions from taxable income.
Irwin Stelzer
London WC2
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