To ask what you'll be doing to avoid the Labour tax hikes

[OptimismvsRealism]

Pension contributions
Gift aid
Selling my shares now while CGT is relatively low

What really worries me is that all the professionals we actually need to want to be here will just fuck off elsewhere, though.

It's not like we're knee deep in hospital doctors.

Not sure that swarms of Scots are leaving because of £1000 pa tax! COL is lower up here anyway ! House prices especially!

Like others I feel that it is the mega-rich that the tax man should be chasing, as well as multinationals with huge UK profits.
@angela1952
The wealthier they are the greater their ability to protect their wealth. It accumulates even if they don't do anything, they hoarde more and more of it as the rest of us get poorer🤷🏻‍♀️

I think the crux of it it whether or not you believe that an increase in tax would result in something tangible so less time waiting for operations etc, figures can be massaged so they appear better - the old saying that if you torture numbers enough they will admit to anything.

if the money is needed for this black hole /deficit that they have found is the money not just going to go to plugging that hole rather than actual improvements?

I think also that there’s a misconception that labour mp’s and politicians aren’t rich and are just like us. A lot of them are well off and they will naturally not want to be the ones impacted by tax hikes. I’m not saying anywhere near rishi levels but they aren’t all from an Angela rayner background.

It will have to be both.

And whether politicians are rich or not should be irrelevant, as long as they are tuned in to the experience of those they serve and know their privilege and how it biases them. The tax won’t be going into their own pockets.

Last time I checked, the UK had the third highest amount of millionaires leaving the UK, but it’s apparently now only behind China:

https://fortune.com/europe/2024/06/18/record-9500-millionaires-expected-leave-uk-bid-protect-wealth-political-upheaval/

“British exodus
For the U.K., the latest record flight of millionaires isn’t an anomaly based on the political context but part of a long-running trend of the wealthy leaving the country.
There are currently 602,500 millionaires in the U.K., according to Henley, but the country has lost 8% of its millionaire population since 2013.

“Unfortunately, since the Brexit referendum in 2016, Britain has had the reverse Midas touch, struggling to retain its place at the top table for attracting global wealth,” said Spear’s Marsh. “Over that time, sterling has underperformed, but not as much as the country’s prime financial index, the FTSE 100, which until earlier this year was as lackluster as the wider U.K. economy.””

Despite the ideological ‘good riddance’ sentiment, this is actually quite the problem. The UK needs to be attracting wealth, not repelling it.

So Brexit is the main driver, followed by zero tax rates offered by some countries and changes to Non Dom introduced by the Tories.

We could change Brexit but we cannot compete with Dubia or the Cayman Is & double taxation of wealth is v common across the EU.

According to the fortune.com article all the millionaires are off to the UAE, is it nice over there?

This attitude is the problem "wealthy enough to be hit means you can afford it" - not necessarily. A lot of people (especially families in the south east) earn a decent amount (say £40k) - not enough to qualify for any help but also not much to live on! Take home pay of about £2,500 in the south east doesn't go far to support a family.
They can't just afford endless tax rises.

Well yes, the outflow has been increasing for years, which is a problem. I’m not suggesting the UK compete with Dubai, I’m suggesting that compounding the problem with policies that further encourage this migration may just be a bad idea.

Amongst others. Was quite pleasant when I went, yes.

We cannot keep running this country for the good of the South East.

The fact that HMRC still haven't looked at a lot of people's tax bills from 2022-2023 makes me think you are right on this. DS1 paid tax on his summer job last year when home from uni and is due a rebate as he didn't earn above 12.5k and government gateway is telling him to not even bother ringing until after November this year.

The South East cannot keep funding the rest of the country.

Just watch the capital flight.

As long as you're straight, and not raped or caught dancing in public, you should be able to avoid jail. Sounds lovely.

Would need to know how much the people leaving were contributing and if the tax changes make life better for everyone else.

Its not as if having more millionaires than most other countries has given the UK world beating public services is it.

Business, when either deciding to leave or invest in a country, look beyond very variable tax rates, to public services, an educated workforce, transport, health.

The UK needs foreign & our own Governments investment, as thats what really grows the tax take.

We will ruin the SE just like we have done everywhere else. We need more growth in the North. Hopefully we will see some policies to address the uplift of the north. But additionally we need to attract wealthy people from all over the world. We don't do this by becoming 0 tax like Dubai but by being a better place to live than Dubai which doesn't have a penalising tax regime. Excessive taxes negate any other good we have going. 600k millionaires is a small number. And millionaires aren't even that rich! We simply cannot afford to keep bringingthis down at this rate let alone a worse rate.

HMRC carried out a study on this and found the opposite. In the 5 years since the higher rate was introduced an averave of 4200 more taxpayers moved to Scotland than left each year. In 2022 – the latest year of available data for the study – £200 million in extra taxable income was brought into Scotland, with more higher and top rate taxpayers moving to Scotland than leaving.

@OptimismvsRealism should probably have checked if their opinion on the subject reflected reality before posting.

Yes but didn’t HMRC also prove that those arriving were lower rate taxpayers and those leaving were higher rate?

this myth that wealthy people somehow support the rest is bollocks. If wealthy people leave, there may be a bit of a shortfall temporarily but things will recalibrate and possibly in a more equitable way. The wealthy keep the poor, poor. Trickle down economics is bollocks.

You’d certainly understand that if you’d got school age kids - free university education is very attractive.

I could be in trouble here. I earned well for a few years, and instead of spending wildly, my wife and I saved, bought a lovely house in a nice area for cash, paid our daughter's way through university, and bought a retirement bungalow that my 85 year old mother in law currently lives in rent free. All good. However, depending on how Liebour intend to structure their assault on wealth I could have my retirement plans scuppered. I currently have a nice easy warehousing job on slightly over minimum wage as I can't afford to retire. If my council tax goes through the roof I will struggle. If my safety net of a bungalow to rent out or sell is going to be hamstrung by punitive CGT, I could be close to penurious.

You could sell your house and move into the bungalow when your mum dies. Hey presto - no capital gains tax. That was easy, wasn’t it?

Yeah you'll be ok. You've got one house paid off and one to spare.

@ouro66 is your mother on pension credit? If so she'll be entitled to rent payments so you could charge her rent and get it paid through the council. There's no reason for you to provide free accommodation, that's what the state is for, to help people in need.

And yes before anyone asks this is perfectly legal.

with more higher and top rate taxpayers moving to Scotland than leaving.

Apparently not.