Bankers moving abroad to escape uncertain tax regime
Discussion
Puggit said:
Sky News
Nice one, Darling...
Also saw a report in the Grauniad that the general perception is that Shanghai will overtake London as a centre of banking in the near future. This can only help.
I think it's far more likely to be HK and Singapore - low tax, plenty of banks have a large footprint there anyway, and expat life can be very good indeed.Nice one, Darling...
Also saw a report in the Grauniad that the general perception is that Shanghai will overtake London as a centre of banking in the near future. This can only help.
I would expect a lot of European activities to move to Switzerland in pretty short order as well, and possibly the Middle East depending on the key markets.
Afterall, why would you want to work in the UK paying 40/50% tax, when you could be paying 10/15% tax somewhere else (and arguably have a better quality of life)?
Funk said:
And so it begins..
They put the taxes up and it will inevitably end up with a net decrease in tax revenues as those who can afford it decide NOT to have the piss well and truly taken.
Perhaps the bleeding heart lefties think that once all of our wealth (and wealth generators) have moved, the ‘third world countries’ to whom we’ve been so generous to will reciprocate by giving us handouts of their wealth….. They put the taxes up and it will inevitably end up with a net decrease in tax revenues as those who can afford it decide NOT to have the piss well and truly taken.
chris watton said:
Funk said:
And so it begins..
They put the taxes up and it will inevitably end up with a net decrease in tax revenues as those who can afford it decide NOT to have the piss well and truly taken.
Perhaps the bleeding heart lefties think that once all of our wealth (and wealth generators) have moved, the ‘third world countries’ to whom we’ve been so generous to will reciprocate by giving us handouts of their wealth….. They put the taxes up and it will inevitably end up with a net decrease in tax revenues as those who can afford it decide NOT to have the piss well and truly taken.
nonplussed said:
I'm sure I'm missing the bigger picture here and that AD has it all worked out, but I fail to understand why this is a good idea, and indeed what it'll possibly achieve.
It looks to me to be more about politics than economics.Much more on
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laffer_curve
as to why increasing taxes on very mobile and highly skilled staff
doesn't work.
I don't understand why already wealthy people would move abroad purely so they save a bit of money.
So you'd uproot children (possibly), be apart from friends and family, begin living in an utterly new culture just so you make a bit more money.
Sure, if people already had intentions to do this for other reasons then I understand, but making such a big life choice just so they have a bit more in their bank account seems insane to me, and I bet my left b
k that far fewer actually end up doing this than the baying press would have us believe.
So you'd uproot children (possibly), be apart from friends and family, begin living in an utterly new culture just so you make a bit more money.
Sure, if people already had intentions to do this for other reasons then I understand, but making such a big life choice just so they have a bit more in their bank account seems insane to me, and I bet my left b
k that far fewer actually end up doing this than the baying press would have us believe.Don't worry I'm sure we won't run out of bankers.
"The fallacy of composition. If any one banker doesn’t get a big bonus, it’s possible he might flounce off in a huff to another firm. But it’s not possible for all bankers to do so; only a tiny handful of British bankers could get good jobs in New York or Switzerland. In this sense, a blanket nationwide ban on big bonuses wouldn’t do much harm.
What’s true for an individual needn’t be true for a group.
There’s a parallel here with one of the errors that got us into this mess - what Keynes called the “fetish of liquidity”. An asset might be liquid from the point of view of an individual, but there is no such thing as liquidity for al investors."
source
"The fallacy of composition. If any one banker doesn’t get a big bonus, it’s possible he might flounce off in a huff to another firm. But it’s not possible for all bankers to do so; only a tiny handful of British bankers could get good jobs in New York or Switzerland. In this sense, a blanket nationwide ban on big bonuses wouldn’t do much harm.
What’s true for an individual needn’t be true for a group.
There’s a parallel here with one of the errors that got us into this mess - what Keynes called the “fetish of liquidity”. An asset might be liquid from the point of view of an individual, but there is no such thing as liquidity for al investors."
source
bonsai said:
I don't understand why already wealthy people would move abroad purely so they save a bit of money.
So you'd uproot children (possibly), be apart from friends and family, begin living in an utterly new culture just so you make a bit more money.
Sure, if people already had intentions to do this for other reasons then I understand, but making such a big life choice just so they have a bit more in their bank account seems insane to me, and I bet my left bk that far fewer actually end up doing this than the baying press would have us believe.
Let's suspend credulity for a minute, and Mr Bonsai earns £5m a year.So you'd uproot children (possibly), be apart from friends and family, begin living in an utterly new culture just so you make a bit more money.
Sure, if people already had intentions to do this for other reasons then I understand, but making such a big life choice just so they have a bit more in their bank account seems insane to me, and I bet my left b
k that far fewer actually end up doing this than the baying press would have us believe.He can pay £2.5m in tax and live in the UK, and be treated like a pariah.
OR
He can pay less than £1m in tax, and live somewhere he's appreciated.
Politics of class envy equals talented people leaving equals UK even more in the sh t.
bonsai said:
I don't understand why already wealthy people would move abroad purely so they save a bit of money.
So you'd uproot children (possibly), be apart from friends and family, begin living in an utterly new culture just so you make a bit more money.
Sure, if people already had intentions to do this for other reasons then I understand, but making such a big life choice just so they have a bit more in their bank account seems insane to me, and I bet my left bk that far fewer actually end up doing this than the baying press would have us believe.
It's because they (rightly) object to being made the cash-cow because of Labour's financial mis-management. Couple that with the ease with which one can now do a job from almost anywhere in the world, the standards of living, culture and freedom from things like constant surveillance by CCTV, increasingly oppressive measures, rules and regulations....are you surprised people who can are moving abroad?So you'd uproot children (possibly), be apart from friends and family, begin living in an utterly new culture just so you make a bit more money.
Sure, if people already had intentions to do this for other reasons then I understand, but making such a big life choice just so they have a bit more in their bank account seems insane to me, and I bet my left b
k that far fewer actually end up doing this than the baying press would have us believe.It's a case of: "Live here, pay 15% tax. It's nice." or "Live here, pay 50% tax. It's heading downhill fast. Oh, and we can't promise we won't randomly tax you even more on your bonus. Or that we won't do it again next year either."
Which would you choose? Then when you factor in corporation taxes, new financial restrictions, red-tape and jobsworthery and you can see why businesses (as well as their employees) are not perturbed in the least by relocating.
The Government will cause an even greater decrease in tax revenues by taking the action it is. Ironically, even if all those individuals and businesses stuck around to get shafted, the money Labour take wouldn't even begin to touch the sides of the hole they've made. The full scale of that is being withheld, for obvious reasons.
Fittster said:
Don't worry I'm sure we won't run out of bankers.
"The fallacy of composition. If any one banker doesn’t get a big bonus, it’s possible he might flounce off in a huff to another firm. But it’s not possible for all bankers to do so; only a tiny handful of British bankers could get good jobs in New York or Switzerland. In this sense, a blanket nationwide ban on big bonuses wouldn’t do much harm.
Surely this assumes that the banks keep operations in the UK? Given the current climate I would suggest that this is a rather arrogant assumption."The fallacy of composition. If any one banker doesn’t get a big bonus, it’s possible he might flounce off in a huff to another firm. But it’s not possible for all bankers to do so; only a tiny handful of British bankers could get good jobs in New York or Switzerland. In this sense, a blanket nationwide ban on big bonuses wouldn’t do much harm.
bonsai said:
I don't understand why already wealthy people would move abroad purely so they save a bit of money.
So you'd uproot children (possibly), be apart from friends and family, begin living in an utterly new culture just so you make a bit more money.
Sure, if people already had intentions to do this for other reasons then I understand, but making such a big life choice just so they have a bit more in their bank account seems insane to me, and I bet my left bk that far fewer actually end up doing this than the baying press would have us believe.
It is worth bearing in mind that many people in the city are American or from other EU states. They work in London because it is one of the world's pre-eminent financial centres. A new harsher tax regime might be quite sufficient to drive them away and UK citizens may leave for elsewhere for the same reasons that attracted these foreigners here.So you'd uproot children (possibly), be apart from friends and family, begin living in an utterly new culture just so you make a bit more money.
Sure, if people already had intentions to do this for other reasons then I understand, but making such a big life choice just so they have a bit more in their bank account seems insane to me, and I bet my left b
k that far fewer actually end up doing this than the baying press would have us believe.Edited by JagLover on Monday 14th December 12:39
Soovy said:
bonsai said:
I don't understand why already wealthy people would move abroad purely so they save a bit of money.
So you'd uproot children (possibly), be apart from friends and family, begin living in an utterly new culture just so you make a bit more money.
Sure, if people already had intentions to do this for other reasons then I understand, but making such a big life choice just so they have a bit more in their bank account seems insane to me, and I bet my left bk that far fewer actually end up doing this than the baying press would have us believe.
Let's suspend credulity for a minute, and Mr Bonsai earns £5m a year.So you'd uproot children (possibly), be apart from friends and family, begin living in an utterly new culture just so you make a bit more money.
Sure, if people already had intentions to do this for other reasons then I understand, but making such a big life choice just so they have a bit more in their bank account seems insane to me, and I bet my left b
k that far fewer actually end up doing this than the baying press would have us believe.He can pay £2.5m in tax and live in the UK, and be treated like a pariah.
OR
He can pay less than £1m in tax, and live somewhere he's appreciated.
Politics of class envy equals talented people leaving equals UK even more in the sh t.
Perhaps they think that living off the IMF never never is a good thing?
bonsai said:
I don't understand why already wealthy people would move abroad purely so they save a bit of money.
Banking also has the highest proportion of foreign-born workers out of any industry in the UK (16% according to the ONS). These workers have already proved they are mobile by coming here so may well be tempted to relocate again or just head home as they've had enough.Gassing Station | News, Politics & Economics | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff