Almost half of all British millionaires say they’re now more likely to seek a new life overseas following Keir Starmer‘s victory in the general election. They’re worried about the economy, they’re worried about our declining quality of life, and they’re really worried about tax.
They also fear for their safety and security, and with our cities in flames, they’re not the only ones.
Mostly, they’re worried about chancellor Rachel Reeves, according to the new survey by investor migration consultancy Arton Capital.
Britain’s richest fear Labour will tax them silly if they stay and strangle their businesses in red tape.
A staggering nine out of 10 don’t rate Labour’s chances of reviving the economy, either.
If even more UK millionaires flee to some offshore playground, many Brits will be happy to see them go. Especially on the left where the general view is “good riddance”.
It’s hard to sympathise with super wealthy jet setters who’d rather sun themselves in a global tax haven than give something back to the country that made them rich.
There’s a problem, though.
Whatever your views on millionaires, their taxes do come in handy.
The top 1% pay 30% of all income tax revenues, the highest share in 25 years. So maybe we’ll miss those millionaires after all.
Of course, the wealthy are more than happy to use tax loopholes if they can.
One in 10 who earn £1million a year hand over just 11% of their annual earnings to HMRC, according to the LSE.
That’s the same tax rate as someone earning £15,000.
Mind you, 11% of £1million is still £110,000, money that Rachel Reeves will not get if that millionaire clears off to the Caymen Islands.
The anti-rich rhetoric has been cranking up in Labour circles for years. That’s inevitable as the gap between rich and poor widens.
The bottom 50% of the UK population now owns less than 5% of wealth, according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, while the top 10% owns 57%.
It’s no fun being poor in Britain.
Yet demonising the rich and driving them away won’t magically make the rest of us richer. Quite the reverse.
A staggering 9.2million Britons age between 16 and 64 and neither in work nor looking for a job. More than half the population gets more in state benefits than they pay in tax.
Somebody has to pick up the tab.
And while some millionaires are no doubt loafing around on inherited wealth, many are making the country richer by building businesses.
Young millionaires are particularly keen to look elsewhere, and Arton Capital founder Armand Arton says we can’t afford to scare them away. “The new government has its work cut out to reassure wealthy citizens that it does not wish to create a hostile regulatory and tax regime for its most upwardly mobile citizens.”
If it doesn’t offer that reassurance, Labour “risks losing much of the invaluable investment, tax revenue, and entrepreneurial spirit they contribute”.
We need to tax the rich fairly, but we also need to keep them here. Because if they go, they won’t be leaving their cheque books behind. Which means the rest of us will have to plug the gap by paying even more tax.
