A couple of days ago I wrote an article describing how the UK Revenue Service – HM Revenue and Customs – had established a special unit that would be targeting the wealthiest tax-payers in Great Britain. Excuse me, that should read “helping” the wealthy to pay the correct amount of tax. I think it was Sir Isaac Newton who established the rule in physics that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Well, the article below, also from the Financial Times, shows how Britain’s wealthy have reacted to HM Revenue’s focus on them!
Tax havens buck European property slump
By Peter Garnham
Published: July 13 2009 10:33 | Last updated: July 13 2009 10:33
Most offshore tax jurisdictions within easy reach of Britain are bucking the European property market slump as wealthy Britons prepare to avoid UK tax rises, according to a survey released on Monday.
A report from Sovereign Group, the advisory firm, said property prices in Monaco and and Gibraltar were holding firm or increasing, while prices around them on the Côte d’Azur and the Costa del Sol have plunged up to 50 per cent.
Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man and Geneva were also enjoying trend-bucking strength in their housing market, according to the report.
Howard Bilton, chairman of the Sovereign Group, said local sources said much of the disparity was because of interest from a “new breed of British tax refugee”.
“For many months now, 20 per cent of all new business at our London office has been from wealthy individuals looking to move offshore to escape what they expect to be increasingly harsh tax rises,” he said. “Very often, these clients are looking to take their businesses with them.”
Be the First to leave reply on this article