to ask how you would stop companies and investors leaving the UK?

[LargeDeviation]

AstraZeneca (the UK's most valuable company) has said they are thinking of delisting from the London Stock Exchange with a view to list in America. Other companies like Invidia, TUI, have also delisted. ARM is of course another one that got away.

At the same time, billionaires and centimillionaires are leaving the UK at the greatest rate ever.

Each delisting leads to redundancies or lower future growth. Each billionaire lost needs the equivalent of thousands of median income taxpayers to make up the tax lost.

What would you do to stop the rot? My solutions:

1. Incentivise listings: Allow extremely large bonuses and executive remuneration as long as they are tied to long-term performance. Remove stamp duty on shares. Bring back reduced oversight for AIM etc so small companies can easily list. Actively invest government funds in high-tech incubator companies (as long as it's done by the likes of the Vaccine Taskforce, not by idiot civil servants whose idea of good governance was to try to obstruct the OneWeb investment).

2. Incentivise share ownership in UK companies. Reduce dividend taxes. Revive the idea of the British ISA from Jeremy Hunt. Introduce low long-term capital gains tax rates (as many other countries have) to encourage long-term investing. Simply cutting Cash ISA allowances won't help.

3. Encourage entrepreneurs and the rich to come to Britian rather than leave. Reverse the non-dom changes. Large increases in IHT allowances, cut the top rate of income tax. These tax cuts can be conditional on providing a large number of jobs to British workers to make them politically palatable.

4. Cut corporation tax back to 20%. Sunak made a huge error in increasing corporation tax.

5. Ditch the Rayner changes which makes Britain even more uncompetitive.

Of course Labour won't do any of the above (or even acknowledge that companies/investors leaving the UK is a problem)...

The millionaires that are leaving are the liquid millionaires/high net worth individuals, each year in greater numbers. Tax Justice has made this exodus seen irrelevant by 1, only counting those that have left in one year, and 2, including those with wealth tied up in assets such as property in their definition, distinct from HNWI. Until 2016 the U.K. attracted more HNWI than it lost, but since then there has been a net outflow.

The U.K. has one of the highest rates of wealth flight in the world, if not the highest. Investment into the U.K has also declined significantly (what the recent articles touting the city of London having the highest rates of foreign investment neglected to mention is that this is still a 30% decrease from the previous year).

No twisting etc....

My point seems to have gone over your head....

I'm well aware that Govts will twist facts, Lab and Tory.... BUT my DD has seen her dept's waiting lists go from 22 weeks 6 months ago, to 4 weeks now.... thats not on a spread sheet, its real... & its not down to Tory policies...

Also, I don't hold to one party or personality like you "appear" too.

Indeed, around 50 or 60% of what Starmer has done, i don't agree with but i will not praise the Con's for things they fucked up in office and then v slightly unfucked towards the end of their tenure, especially when the Tories blame them for things they did whilst in office.

Starmer and Reeves' handling of the economy is a total car crash compared to Sunak and Hunt

Nope, not funding public sector pay rises, not funding compensation scandals and finally, unfunded tax cuts.... was it £20 billion of NI cuts? all unfunded....

...done to screw up Labour or rather the UK ie you and me....

Plus, they decimated UK defence forces, at a time when spending should have been increasing.... they went into the last GE promising to slash UK defence spending... that really should blow your mind!!

Whose paying builders to work cash in hand? People like that are very happy to help someone (British or immigrant) avoid paying tax in exchange for a cheaper job. Are they not part of the problem as well?
Also, when a rich person evades/avoids tax its used as a reason to lower taxes as clearly the tax is oppressively high. But when a (immigrant) builder does, it's proof they don't want to contribute to society
Shouldn't you be celebrating their willingness to integrate with British culture.

They are here illegally.

Sometimes they use someone else's NI number. In which case they would pay tax under that number.
Sometimes they work under the table (and are often exploited). In which case they don't pay tax but the people paying them cash in hand already know that.

I think both of these are issues and need dealing with. But the second in particular only happens because people (real British taxpayers) are happy to accept it in exchange for cheaper cigarettes, cheap labour etc. It's not just a immigrant problem

@Alexandra2001 you do know that your experience of one person is what's called anecdotal evidence, definitely still valid but

Because you and she are happy you may not realise that actually many of us having been waiting years for help and are still waiting

So that's the only reason it's bad? Cash in hand and not declaring earnings is fine if you are here legally? Then why bring up them not paying tax at all?

@Namitynamename or they exploit us, get paid far more than in their home country, live in unregistered hmo and send money home where they can far more than for their money.

A bit like us looking Arab States for cash and great pay whilst holding our noses

But my point is who is "us". If we are talking about people working illegally, which is what I was, them its not the case of poor exploited British person on the one hand and illegal immigrants working illegally for far more than they can earn in their home country without paying tax and sending it home.on the other.
For someone to work illegally it means: someone is paying them cash in hand for building work etc
Someone is buying cheap cigarettes from Romania. Someone is buying cannabis grown by a Vietnamese kid or cocaine smuggled in by Albanians. Someone is paying some poor Chinese woman for sex behind their wifes back. Odds on those people are British. Some of them will even be angry at immigrantion levels. But they are as much part of the problem. They might not know their builder wants cash in hand because his staff aren't working legally. But they will know it's to bypass tax services. So maybe British people are also exploiting this country?

It is yes. Too much downward pressure on the private sector. It’s not helping growth and borrowing is at the limit.

100% agree..... i mentioned my DD 's anecdotal experience in reply to the pp who claimed the Tories had introduced more appointments....

We all know thats simply not true.

Btw i think Labour are also lying over their 4 million extra as well....

Public sector payrises? Paying ransoms that we can't afford you mean? I'm surprised you want to go there. Are the resident doctors at the utopia of your dd's trust going on strike again?

Have Labour paid out compensation yet for all the scandals? The victims don't seem to think so.

Hunt's NI cuts, really? Again? Write to the Chancellor and tell her that she could and should have reversed it. I'll co sign if you like? Please ask her to reverse her NI rise on business too.

As for defence, yes the tories were shit, as were Labour before them. Both parties should hang their heads on that one. I was an army wife under the last Labour government. More anecdotes. If you believe that our military has only been going without since the tories took office, I've got a bridge to sell.

You could just admit that Sunak was pretty decent, despite his mistakes?

https://news.sky.com/story/growth-in-nhs-appointments-continues-to-slow-under-labour-despite-starmers-claims-of-success-13391882

I didn't. Someone else did.

Sunak also delivered the Windsor framework

Err Hunt failed to provide the money for any of the known costs he knew was coming down the line.... so there isn't the money to pay compo.

Doctors on strike? cannot stop people taking part in industrial action, the other public sector pay rises were all agreed under independent review bodies.

Military? the Tories slashed it, despite Russia's increased aggression, thats unforgiveable.

Windsor Frame Work? Who supported Brexit? Sunak! he helped cause the issues and signed off on Bojo's "Oven ready deal"

He was useless and you know it..... as i believe it was Sunak who was in charge when Hunt cut NI, which you acknowledge was a huge mistake but you now want Reeves to take the political pain and reverse..... surprise surprise!

Military? the Tories slashed it, despite Russia's increased aggression, thats unforgiveable.

The British Army, including Reserves, was 46,000 smaller in 2020 than in 2010.

Same with planes and ships too! massive reductions under the Tories.

The Cons went into the last GE promising to cut the infantry by a further 10,000.... thats on Sunak.... of course war in Europe wont affect him, he can jet back to the US, doubtless to bet against the UK.. again...

Labour from 1997 to 2010 did not have to deal with such a resurgent Russia, they still had the benefits of a reduction in Cold War defence spend.

Any thoughts on the troops sent to Iraq and Afghanistan with inadequate equipment? The deaths due to lack of body armour? That's unforgivable too.

Yes it is. Neither of the main political parties have covered themselves in glory where the armed services are concerned, have they?

The point still stands, the Tories carried on cutting defence spend, they saw the problems when UK troops went to war... still reduced defence.

Blair/Brown belated did provide the funds but it was the Generals who did not raise the issues with the Govt of the day who should also share responsibility, did they even know what they were getting involved in??

I think you can in theory stop the doctors strikes. Just make them an essential service. It's how like the police and army cannot strike.

The super wealthy are leaving but what is less reported is the high earner exodus, maybe those earning 100-500k - sometimes between a couple - but are normal tax payers, not those whose wealth is hidden behind trusts.

This is very bad for the economy as these people paid for the bulk of the welfare bills. They see that growing all the time - with politicians unable to get a grip as we saw two weeks ago - yet can’t get the police to come out when their car is stolen and can’t wear their Rolex out.

This is on all the parties, not just one.

Oh yes, then see them leave.... as pay erosion continues.

They have a reasonable case, pay is around 21% below where it was 15 years ago... working conditions very poor...BUT i think they are foolish to strike.