Taxing the rich and bringing back the poll tax may initially appear anathema to modern conservatism- yet combine these ideas into a policy and that it is exactly what Mr Osborne has done. As Gabriel Rozenberg writes in the Times

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article2570516.ece

The Conservatives’ plan for taxing UK residents who are non-domiciled for tax amounts is an odd straitjacket. On the one hand, those “non-doms” who are not especially rich can opt into the British tax system and avoid the levy entirely. At the other end of the scale, the Roman Abramoviches and Lakshmi Mittals will barely notice a £25,000 charge.

Yet between these two extremes sit a range of foreign workers lumbered with a pseudo regressive  poll tax. Whilst they may find themselves giving less to the state as they become wealthier, the converse is also true. If they suffer a drop in income the state will extract a larger portion of their wealth. That said “non doms” do not play well on the public sympathies, the nurse’s position in the public hearts looks unperturbed by the moderately wealthy “non dom.”

As Rozenberg asserts there are attractions to Osborne’s proposals:

There is no doubt that the non-dom regime is ripe for overhaul, and this proposed levy will have the advantage of being easy to collect.

However the “non dom” regime may not be the most stable foundation for a centre piece of fiscal policy. The source of this instability is the fact that no one seems to know exactly how many “non doms” there are and how they will respond to the Conservatives’ measures. Even if the Conservatives’ count of “non doms” is correct a further problem may lie  ahead. Contrary to popular opinion the toys of the “non doms” often do not contain a football team or even a yacht. The reality is they will notice a £25,000 charge and may choose to avoid it. The consequences of this scenario to the Conservatives’ tax proposals could hardly be more dangerous. As Rozenberg asserts, the one certainty of politics is that of unintended consequences. For the shadow chancellor this could mean;

if you set out to tax foreign residents to pay for first-time buyers, you are likely to end up with fewer foreign residents and a lot more first-time buyers.