Stark warnings have surfaced since the U.K.’s tax crackdown on the wealthy that an exodus of the mega-rich is underway. Hard data has yet to back up the trend.
At the heart of the potential flight are changes to the British tax system, from capital gains and inheritance tax to extra stamp duty rates. In particular, the abolition of the so-called non-dom regime, which allowed wealthy foreigners to avoid paying tax on earnings outside the U.K. and to elude inheritance duties on their global assets, courted much controversy.
The fear is that an exodus of wealthy people will translate into lower economic growth and diminish the UK’s attractiveness as a place to live, invest, and do business.
“We know that the top 1% and the top 0.01% pay a very high proportion of taxes in this country, so the tax base starts to shrink. The second thing is, you lose the benefit of the money that they spend in the economy. That’s not just about people that they employ, but it’s also about things like philanthropy,” said Jenkins, who is now the CEO of 10x Banking.
“What we really need most of all in this country, is people to start and grow businesses. And that means we have to be an attractive location for capital for starting businesses,” he added.
