Would you leave UK if Reeves starts taxing wealth

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Just that really. Wondering if anyone else considering it. DCs both at Uni in next year. We had thought of living abroad a few months each year anyway but now UK is getting worse and worse for tax. Not super wealthy but millionaires on paper and with various investments. Been to advisor and would have IHT bill of £1 mill + if we stayed which makes me so angry. Worked hard for so many years to provide for our family and feels too harsh.
Spoke to our eldest about this and she even said so many of her friends have parents who have moved abroad in last few years. We are lucky we have options for countries, feels hard but then a flight is actually fast than driving up and down to where DC are at Uni so makes me wonder.....

Feel so fed up the constant threats to those who have saved for future and not got into debt through spending on material things or holidays, tech etc etc....

But even if you look at just UC (which excludes those on disability benefits and taking pension) - the figure is still less than 40%.
The vast majority of people claiming benefits are engaged in no paid work.

If we both died tomorrow there would be a bit of inheritance tax to pay but when they bring pensions in there’s a lot more. Assuming life goes to plan we will have spent to below the threshold by the time dh reaches 80, I’m younger but can live on the remainder bar the house which the kids get. Of course every penny may go on care bills

No, my life is here.

No.

We'd have a similar bill.

I think it's only right to be honest. But I've been called a raving lefty before now.

Is that the scenario?

To answer your question, no I don't think I would leave the UK, but who knows one day dependant on how things change over the coming decades. For now, I would stay, because I love my homeland and also my family, friends and community here. However it is difficult to see so many issues as are currently faced with under-resourced public services, healthcare, education and this level of pressure through taxation on those who are working very hard to contribute to the economy - in many tax brackets, combined with the state of the economy.

We are fortunate, through hard work and families working very hard over multiple generations and will end up in a position where we face a situation where we will have a greater (potential) IHT liability than this, if we do not plan for it. I don't think i'd leave the country to minimise a tax bill, if I did it would be because children were grown up and settled overseas or we had a desire to live somewhere warmer.

What I will do though, is ensure our tax planning is very thorough to ensure we can pass on as much as possible to our children. If I were you, I'd be planning for how much you realistically need to retain, to live comfortably with the retirement you have planned, taking account of any potential medical needs. I'd set up a trust each (to pass on the 325k of it which you can put in trust IHT free outside of your estate) directly to your children.

I would be looking at gifting the majority of what is left that you don't foresee yourselves needing sooner than later, so the 7 years can hopefully pass meaning it is passed on tax free. If I was pre-retirement age, I'd likely do this in stages, but if older probably just in a small number of (significant) payments. This would help financially set my children up for their futures. They will never need the money more than when they're in their 20s-40s while building careers or raising families, and so I'd want to help them when they would benefit most from it. If I pass on an inheritance by the time they're in their 50s+ they'll not have quite the same need for it, and the earlier some is passed on, the more they can grow it themselves. Perhaps you could invest in property in their name, or help them buy their own properties to live in.

I'd also consider, if either of you falls ill and leaves your full estate to the other, if they ever need care it could swallow a lot, then IHT could take a significant amount of anything that is left, so it really is a question of whether you'd want that money to be used for care, or whether you'd rather ensure at least some of it always reaches your children (they will obviously have legal rights to a third, regardless). I appreciate this is just considerations I'd have, and a lot of people will think IHT should just be paid, whereas I think some is fine but effective tax and estate planning and gifting is also worth considering.

A lot to consider, and it would be interesting to know whether you would think to pass on some now to your children, in the hope it is tax free, rather than leave the country?

Don’t be so silly, you can’t tax the dead! You can’t take your money either you!

The tax applies to those receiving, who have not earned the money, and are therefore getting an unearned windfall. Inheritance tax should be higher imo.

There are worse 'problems' to have.

Oh dear, poor you.

I don’t agree.

I don’t see why the size of the house should matter. Those living in the south have option to move to a bigger house up north if they want to. I expect that they choose to live in an expensive area because they consider the benefits/ privileges worth paying for, whether that’s access to higher paying jobs, better schools, better facilities, better access to London, or whatever else it is that may have driven up the price in that specific area. It’s the value (i.e. wealth) that is important.

This

Ciao 🤣

The UK is 'hugely, punitively redistributive'; yet the gap between rich and poor in the UK is huge and is growing and has been since the 1950s. That redistribution isn't going very well...

The bigger the wealth gap, the unhappier a society we will live in

Why are the people paying for everybody always so worried about paying tax? […] All of us pay tax (way less than we receive in return), it's part of living in a modern society that provides for all its citizens

This is an insane argument for so many reasons.

Firstly we need people to live in the South. This is where the vast majority of our GDP is created and redistributed to other parts of the country. If you hurt the South, you hurt everyone.

Secondly, it is useful if people stay close to friend and family networks from a social care perspective. The care bill would absolutely spiral if we can't do this.

Thirdly and most importantly, saying it's the value that counts is ridiculous when we all know that the cost of owning the asset is relevant. You can't just randomly tax people for owning a more expensive property when someone up north can be just as wealthy up north but not had to plough as much of their money into property. It is ridiculously unfair and punitive against families living in the south

Do you think parents should be able to contribute towards their child's house deposit? What about provide benefits on kind like childcare for grandchildren etc? All of this is a form of unearned privilege

You can start divesting to your children at some point if you want to stay in the UK. There are rumours that RR is going to change the 7 year rule and cap the value of gifts though.

If you have options to go to a more friendly regime though, I'd be off like a shot. It's not just about IHT, it's about quality of life. The UK has little to commend it at the moment.

I don’t see Reform getting in as a possibility for as long as we have the current voting system.

My company employees over 600 people. When the NI increase was announced I slashed inflationary pay rises that I had budgeted for. No one received an inflationary pay rise in my company this year.

You may think that the NI increase only impacted businesses, but I assure you, most companies cut pay rises as a result.

Everyone always says they’ll leave the UK if x, y, z happens. Most don’t. 🤷‍♀️

The UK’s oil wealth was smaller than the Norwegian oil fields, much deeper and more expensive to access and the population of the UK is more than 10 times greater than the population of Norway (their 2024 population is just over 5 million people - half the population of London.

We're definitely considering it now we're Empty Nesters and DH due to retire in the next 18 months albeit he'll only be 55. God only knows how much we've paid out in higher rate tax over the years + huge chunks in capital gains tax recently. The state will take another massive chunk if DH sells his company.

Just utterly fucked off with paying more and more and more for increasingly poorer services.

We live in a country where nearly a third of children live in poverty. So no, I dont mind doing my bit. Your kids will still inherit plenty if your IHT bill is that much. Most people will never need to worry about IHT as they can pass on I think 325k with no tax needed to be paid. If you move abroad will the kids go? or would they rather have to fly abroad to see their parents just for a few extra quid later on (assuming no care home costs etc) what does that say to them about the value of relationships over and above just money.

I couldn’t leave. For lots of reasons. And I very much doubt that I’d be anywhere near the bracket for an eye watering wealth tax.

But others can. And if those people take their money abroad the government will have to find replacement income from less wealthy people. So it’ll start hares running about how far down the wealth ladder the tax burden will then shift.

All in all, I just can’t see the government getting out of this hole without putting up VAT, or income tax on many lower earners. Which they’ve pledged not to do.

The growth mantra has failed completely. Growth requires business confidence. The government is pumping money into the public sector - without any apparent benefit - at the expense of business. That was obviously intended to buy public sector votes and create a warm glow about the NHS. Since that’s completely bombed electorally and Reeves can’t go backwards on business taxes, they’ve blown it.

I think they can with FPTP and polling as it is, it’s over a certain threshold