‘Cry — God for Harry! England and Saint George!’ This year marks the 600th anniversary of King Henry V’s victory over the French at the Battle of Agincourt. While Britain has had quite a successful run over the years overrunning other countries, it is almost exactly 950 years since Albion was last invaded. (We prefer to connect the French with Waterloo than the Battle of Hastings.)

I have long had a hunch that Britain’s secure island status is the reason successive British Governments have been slow to adopt the universal policy of charging non-resident investors in real estate to capital gains tax. Until 2012, as long as odious foreigners planned their affairs correctly, the sale of commercial or residential property did not attract the taxman’s greedy gaze. Then it was decided that, while commercial property was harmless, there was too much speculation and long-term investment in high-end properties by less-than-desirable strangers.

That year, properties valued at more than £2 million that were held in corporate ‘envelopes’ (Cameron-Osborne-Clegspeak for companies) were inflicted with the combined horrors of 15% Stamp Duty Land Tax on purchase, a yearly holding charge – Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings – that increased exponentially with the value of the property, and capital gains tax at 28% on sale. A clear case of ‘Up yours, Mr Greaseball!’

Despite the Draconian measures, it was still not entirely clear that sealing the property in an envelope was the wrong thing to do – given the exposure of personal holding in property  to 40% Inheritance Tax if the purchaser was unfortunate enough to be run over by a double-decker bus while crossing Knightsbridge’s Brompton Road to buy Harrods. Also, if a deal could be done selling a company – the non-resident still paid no tax (other than half a percent stamp tax in the case of a British company).

Well, if our non-native friends thought it was bad up to now – it is about to get one hell of a lot worse.

Assuming the Government manages to pass this year’s Budget before Parliament is dissolved  for the General Election, residential properties held by foreigners are going to be liable to capital gains tax virtually full stop (there are some exceptions for such things as Principal Private Residence). What is more, SDLT is going to be yanked up to a whopping 12% for non-enveloped purchases over £1.5 million. In the meantime, 15% SDLT has been in force for enveloped purchases of over half a million quid since 2014, and the £2 million threshold for ATED is to be reduced to half a million pounds over two years.

The trade-off between the holding of residential properties directly or through an envelope has just got that much more complicated. Given the British assumption that foreigners (especially the non-English speaking variety) are fundamentally stupid, a lot of confusion is now expected. Having said that, all the UK has really done is brought itself closer to the rest of the world. It is a sign of the crumbling of Empire. Mr Churchill, and King Harry, would have definitely had what to say.