To think it's a bit much for tax excuses to expect rescue by the Brotish Government (taxpayer).

[Whitengold]

Hopefully it won't come to that and the airports will reopen soon, but I've already heard some murmurs about evacuation from paradise.

You’re ignoring the many young people who haven’t been able to get graduate jobs in the U.K. or progress here so have moved to the ME for that purpose; you’re ignoring the many stranded persons transiting through the ME on the way to see family in Australia or New Zealand, you’re ignoring the friend I had who after her baby died due to NHS negligence here ( CQC say two thirds maternity units England inadequate) moved abroad in terror for her next pregnancy….

Why don’t you actually suggest something that would be legal? Like you could lobby Parliament to have worldwide taxation for all Brits, like the US. And those who do not want to pay, will have to give up their citizenship.
Otherwise you are just talking nonsense. The Government has to follow the law towards its own citizens. .

Because if they’ve been paying 40%, that’s a heck of a figure to now be without. It’s like having laser eye surgery and not telling people you can see clearly now!

I’m sure they also throw in the advantages of better weather and career progression. The other factor everyone keeps spouting about Dubai, they’re hardly going to celebrate over: “can’t wait to go there for the slavery!”

I dont feel a mug. I'm happy to contribute, in fact see tax as privilege (FD Roosevelt), you dont pay it if you're poor, but I am sick of people telling me I'm a mug for paying it, but still expecting to benefit from the tax others pay.

So they are going to avoid tax

Those people haven’t emigrated for a “better life,” they’re UK residents.

If I moved my disabled son to Dubai, I’m not expecting his DLA payment, because I’ve lost entitlement to it by moving.

That’s the point. Leave the country, lose the support - including the flight home.

You mean like most high earners in the UK then? If you can save on your tax bill, why wouldn't you?

That is mean spirited. They are British citizens who 💯 deserve to be looked after by the government.
I think Dubai is a seedy place but that doesn’t make me sneer at anyone who is stuck out there.

In my case, I continued to pay NI because I knew it was temporary.

CT on my UK properties.

CGT when I sold one.

IT on any monies transferred to my UK account.

It’s actually not possible to move to the UAE forever more. My visa was dependent on working and was cancelled shortly I resigned. Most ex pats plan to move back to the UK or elsewhere at some point.

Of course these people should be supported by the bloody government.

I do think that's a fair point.
What really frustrates me is the attitude that the government should basically wash it's hands of expats because they are all tax avoiders, which has been pretty prevalent across lots of sites.
In practice, in a war zone, there's little that the individual can do to arrange transport especially if repatriation ended up being via military/non commercial routes. I actually thing most residents don't want to leave Dubai and will just wait and see. If longer term people feel it's too insecure, they will repatriate under their own steam.

Yet another dumber and dumber post with someone salty about people who’ve looked beyond our shores to find job opportunities when our economy is on its knees and overburdened by one of the biggest benefits bills in history. 🥱
The moral high ground police are out in force with this Middle Eastern conflict

Another thing you can do is stop caring what other people think of you.

Who are these people you care enough about to be bothered by what they think yet they tell you you're a mug?

But your point was on the CHOICE people have made. People choose to do all sorts of things that the government then has to stump up for, where to draw the line gets pretty blurry especially when such emigrés have already and/or will in the future contribute to their country of origin

I think they should obviously get any assistance any other British citizen would get abroad.

It would be nice (but unlikely) if any of them were able to make the link between the taxes they resented paying, and the state assistance they now receive. Or if someone like Isabel Oakeshott was able to maybe now have a grasp of the concept of “I made a decision, my situation has changed, I now need state support” for the next time she’s calling people on benefits “parasites”, or suggesting people live with the (in her case not totally unforeseeable) consequences of their own decisions.

Yes, one of MANY potential reasons.

And what’s wrong with wanting to save a bit on tax? Jeez, you may as well shout SHAME at anyone buying a bottle of booze in duty free if that’s the stance you’re adopting

YANBU to feel as you do, OP. I sympathise. The only full-time Dubai residents I know personally are glamorous millennials, all about the shiny lifestyle, who've never contributed meaningfully to the UK and are moaning like hell just now 🙄 They'll be fine either way.

But, as @KTheGrey says, it is what it is. It wouldn't be feasible to sift the 'deserving' from those who should be treated as non-UK citizens, and there's no justification for abrogating our duty to citizens.

I agree that the government can't just abandon people in Dubai or elsewhere. It's not what wealthy, developed governments do in crises. But it would be nice if it leads some tax avoiders to see that a) all of us can potentially end up in a position where we need state assistance and b) paying taxes is part of our duty to society and to one another. (No, not every British expat in Dubai moved primarily to avoid tax; yes, some definitely did move for that reason.)

I also think many residents will stay, especially if the conflict is brief, or they'll make plans to leave over a longer term. But they will likely now still be relying on updates from the FCO, advice from embassy staff etc, all of which is taxpayer funded.

Agreed! All those stupid influencers, who spend their lives telling us all how marvellous it is to live in Dubai and not have to pay tax and now guess what? They want BRITISH TAXPAYERS to fly them home. You couldn't make it up!

I do hope @Whitengold doesn't have an ISA. Quelle horreur.

Totally agree OP.
While we’re at it we should get rid of all the masses on benefits. In fact anyone who isn’t a net contributor should be round up and shot. 🙄

One of my PPs actually says that our responsibility ends when you step on an airplane and emigrate.

You shouldn’t be able to decide that the country you decided wasn’t good enough for you, should be your rescuer.

In a place that is misogynistic to the locals and homophobic. And is built on slavery.

Something which happened in the UK two hundred or so years ago but we have mainly got rid of

I've been a higher rate taxpayer for 30 years....and paid basic rate tax for 10 years before that.

Disagree with you. I know British people who have lived in Dubai for almost 20 years. Why should the UK evac them?