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Hundreds of bosses flee UK over 50% tax
The Times ^ | 12/13/2009 | Robert Watts and Maurice Chittenden

Posted on 12/12/2009 6:29:45 PM PST by bruinbirdman

Britain’s financiers and entrepreneurs are quitting the UK at a rate of 10 a week to avoid Labour’s new 50% taxes.

The burgeoning exodus threatens to deepen a £178 billion black hole in the public finances and leave middle-class voters with higher taxes for years to come, figures obtained from Companies House reveal.

The number of directors of British businesses registered as living in the low-tax centres of Jersey, Guernsey or the Isle of Man has risen by almost 500 to 6,729 in the past 12 months.

The British Virgin Islands is also a popular destination, with 615 directors of UK companies now based in the Caribbean tax haven — an 18% rise on a year ago.

Those known to be fleeing the UK include hedge fund managers, property tycoons, bankers and people who made their money setting up companies organising private healthcare, call centres and luxury holidays.

“The UK model is broken,” said Stephen Hedgecock, a partner in Altis, a £1 billion hedge fund company with 35 staff that has relocated to Jersey, leaving only a small presence in London.

“It’s not just the 50% rate — it’s National Insurance, the treatment of pensions ... everything. It’s just a ridiculous amount of taxation.”

Russell Newton and Danny Masters, co-founders of Global Advisors, another hedge fund with hundreds of millions of dollars under management, also abandoned London for Jersey’s thriving finance community in the summer.

Another 100 Britons have begun working in the island’s businesses since the downturn began two years ago. The Jersey government said it had seen a 20% increase in interest from people looking at moving to the island. A new marketing brochure published by the island’s authorities promises “in Jersey, keep more of what you earn”.

The authorities impose corporation tax at

(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: bigbosses; revolt; taxes; uk; unitedkingdom; virginislands
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1 posted on 12/12/2009 6:29:45 PM PST by bruinbirdman
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To: bruinbirdman

Coming soon to a country near you.


2 posted on 12/12/2009 6:32:22 PM PST by Signalman
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To: bruinbirdman

Uh oh....better make it 90% to make up the revenue gap.


3 posted on 12/12/2009 6:32:58 PM PST by notfornothing
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To: bruinbirdman

Yep. These days you can run a business from almost anywhere. Why put up with confiscatory taxes?


4 posted on 12/12/2009 6:33:32 PM PST by smokingfrog (I'm from TEXAS -- what country are YOU from?)
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To: bruinbirdman

What is past is prologue.


5 posted on 12/12/2009 6:34:46 PM PST by El Sordo
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To: smokingfrog

Vote with your feet.


6 posted on 12/12/2009 6:35:52 PM PST by wally_bert (It's sheer elegance in its simplicity! - The Middleman)
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To: bruinbirdman

Jersey: The United Kingdom’s Hong Kong


7 posted on 12/12/2009 6:36:54 PM PST by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Made from The Right Stuff)
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To: bruinbirdman

How long until big tax nations start putting embargoes on so called “tax havens” to force them into line?


8 posted on 12/12/2009 6:37:20 PM PST by DesScorp
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To: bruinbirdman

Atlas just keeps on shrugging...


9 posted on 12/12/2009 6:37:50 PM PST by sourcery (Climatology will be science (and not a religion) when Hell freezes over, and AlGore doesn't deny it!)
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To: bruinbirdman
Britain’s financiers and entrepreneurs are quitting the UK at a rate of 10 a week to avoid Labour’s new 50% taxes. The burgeoning exodus threatens to deepen a £178 billion black hole in the public finances and leave middle-class voters with higher taxes for years to come

Wow! Who could have possible seen that coming???

10 posted on 12/12/2009 6:38:27 PM PST by spodefly (This is my tag line. There are many like it, but this one is mine.)
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To: DesScorp

Maybe the havens can fund their own private militaries to assert themselves. Can I join?


11 posted on 12/12/2009 6:40:07 PM PST by wally_bert (It's sheer elegance in its simplicity! - The Middleman)
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To: spodefly
The AP headline will run...

Hundreds of bosses UNEXPECTELY flee UK over 50% tax

12 posted on 12/12/2009 6:48:34 PM PST by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: Bobkk47
Coming soon to a country near you.

....and joining the business people will be Dr's. Wait a minute, Slap & degrade will take care of the rest! Legislators can not be this stupid to pass the crap that is coming out of The peoples House! Who benefits? For the working people, MY $ss!

13 posted on 12/12/2009 6:49:16 PM PST by luv2ndamend (They call themselves greens because they're too yellow to admit they're reds.)
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To: DesScorp
How long until big tax nations start putting embargoes on so called “tax havens” to force them into line?

When there is no where to go, John Gault will offer his alternative.

14 posted on 12/12/2009 6:52:48 PM PST by Ditto (Directions for Clean Government: If they are in, vote them out. Rinse and repeat.)
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To: bruinbirdman

Britain will soon impose an Iron Curtainlike ban on those fleeing their country. Get out while you can, Brits!


15 posted on 12/12/2009 6:53:56 PM PST by Freedom'sWorthIt (Welcome to America - the world's new Gulag thanks to Obamao and the Democommies)
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To: bruinbirdman

They learned nothing from the Beatles???

http://pushbackuntil.com


16 posted on 12/12/2009 6:57:18 PM PST by DennisR (Look around - God gives countless, indisputable, and unambiguous clues that He does, indeed, exist.)
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To: Freedom'sWorthIt
"Britain will soon impose an Iron Curtainlike ban on those fleeing their country. Get out while you can, Brits! "

I think they'll continue to let them leave, they will just confiscate their money and assets when they leave. That way, the government will get a windfall and ride themselves of a liability in the same process.
17 posted on 12/12/2009 7:03:52 PM PST by FrankR (SENATE: You cram it down our throats in '09, We'll shove it up your ass in '10...count on it.)
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To: FrankR

Maybe so for now....but totalitairianism is in the air.


18 posted on 12/12/2009 7:05:52 PM PST by Freedom'sWorthIt (Welcome to America - the world's new Gulag thanks to Obamao and the Democommies)
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To: wally_bert
Vote with your feet.

If you drive a car
we'll tax the street
if you walk too far
we'll tax your feet

19 posted on 12/12/2009 7:10:24 PM PST by null and void (We are now in day 325 of our national holiday from reality. - 0bama really isn't one of US.)
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To: null and void

Sooner or later they will tax too far....


20 posted on 12/12/2009 7:11:40 PM PST by wally_bert (It's sheer elegance in its simplicity! - The Middleman)
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