The peer ‘would have quit the House of Lords had he known it would stop him claiming non-residency’
Paywall, but The Times helped the investigation, so not unreasonable.
Gist is:
Sugar tried to claim he was non-dom, to save £186m in tax.
However, members of HoL are officially classed as residents (because Jesus, imagine someone deciding on the laws of the country while not even officially living there)
Additionally, he's quoted in the article saying that if he was aware, he would have stepped down...So his HoL membership is now being reviewed on the grounds that he was ready to drop his duties the moment it was convenient to him.
He was one of the largest donors to the Labour Party, who made him a Lord. A few years later he switched sides to the Conservatives, and had been acting like the archetypal Tory gobshite ever since.
TBF he is not the only one who does this. Monaco exists purely for tax avoidance purposes. I have known many who have worked in Saudi and the likes. They have spent money on holidays rather than come back to the UK precisely for this purpose. I think the thing that is galling people the most is the sum of money. If he drops his Lords status then he would well be doing this in the future and no one can say a word.
There is a lot of obfuscation going on with tax systems. This is by design so that only those with money can take advantage of it. Crickhowell showing just this.