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Rachel Reeves softened non-dom plans after Blackstone CEO ‘raised concerns’

Revealed: Head of world’s biggest asset manager lobbied chancellor on tax rules weeks before policy was tweaked

Rachel Reeves softened non-dom plans after Blackstone CEO ‘raised concerns’
The Chancellor held meetings with a number of finance bosses in the weeks following the budget, including Blackstone's Stephen Schwarzman | UK government / Treasury
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Rachel Reeves changed the government’s position on non-doms weeks after one of the world’s most powerful financiers asked her personally not to increase the tax burden on the super rich.

Documents released to openDemocracy under the Freedom of Information Act reveal Stephen Schwarzman, the CEO of leading asset manager Blackstone, raised “concerns” with Reeves about her plans to reform the tax treatment of non-domiciled individuals at a meeting in Downing Street in December.

The chancellor had previously used the autumn Budget in late October to re-commit to Labour’s manifesto promise to abolish the non-dom tax regime, which allows wealthy individuals who live in the UK to be domiciled elsewhere for tax purposes.