Shameless Rich Expats Flee U.K. After Tax Change --- Ending a loophole to generate more revenue might not bolster British coffers

“LONDON -- The U.K. is trying to tax the superrich. It is off to a bumpy start.

 

"I'm on my way out," said Bassim Haidar, a Nigerian-born Lebanese businessman who moved here in 2010. "There comes a time when you don't feel welcome anymore."

 

Haidar is one of about 74,000 who used a centuries-old tax loophole, abolished in April, that catered to the global rich. "Non-dom status" -- for "nondomiciled" -- allowed foreigners living in the U.K. to pay tax only on what they earned domestically. Profits made abroad were ignored unless brought into the U.K.

 

Beset by high public debt and crumbling infrastructure, the U.K. hoped eliminating non-doms would bring in about $45 billion by 2030. But wealthy expats are rushing for the exits, sparking questions about whether the effort would raise any money at all.

 

Taxes on high earners have become a rallying cry on the left as a solution to income inequality and fraying social safety nets. Low-tax advocates say they are counterproductive, repelling job creators and big spenders.

 

In the U.S., New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani has proposed a tax on New Yorkers making more than $1 million a year, prompting vocal rich people to say they will leave for lower-tax jurisdictions such as Florida or Texas.

 

The challenge of taxing rich people is that they are highly mobile, with houses around the world, private jets and advisers who can sort out bureaucratic paperwork quickly. Jurisdictions such as Dubai, Italy and Monaco have rolled out the red carpet, offering no tax or structures similar to the U.K.'s old non-dom status.

 

Haidar earns most of his money from businesses he started overseas. He estimates the tax overhaul would increase his U.K. tax bill by five to seven times. He also worries about the 40% inheritance tax, which now would apply on his global assets. He said he is selling his U.K. properties and plans to leave this summer. He will split his time between Dubai and Greece.

 

Nassef Sawiris, an Egyptian billionaire and co-owner of the English soccer team Aston Villa, has relocated from the U.K. to Italy, according to regulatory filings. German crypto billionaire Christian Angermayer moved to Switzerland last year from London.

 

"The government was maybe overconfident that the international wealthy loved London so much. . .that they wouldn't go," said Charlie Sosna, a partner in law firm Mishcon de Reya's private-wealth division.

 

Wealthy Brits have been trying to escape the U.K.'s high tax rates for decades. In the 1970s, the Rolling Stones moved to France to avoid taxes, while David Bowie went to Switzerland.

 

The lucrative non-dom loophole had the opposite effect, drawing rich foreigners. The system dates back to 1799, when the country's first income tax was imposed. The exemption was restricted over time to largely benefit foreigners who don't expect to live in the U.K. permanently.

 

The U.K. knew that some rich residents would leave because of the tax changes, and built departures into its forecasts. The independent budget watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility, estimated that among a large subset of non-doms, about 12% will move. But it warned this month departures could be higher, and that "growing reliance on this small and mobile group of taxpayers therefore represents a fiscal risk."

 

Campaign groups that back lower taxes paint a gloomier picture. A report from the Centre for Economics and Business Research, commissioned by the Land of Opportunity campaign, forecast a higher share of non-doms will leave and suggested the government could lose money if the migration rate tops 25%.

 

Academic studies of tax systems in the U.K., Switzerland and the U.S. show a divide among the wealthy. The superrich and elderly are more likely to move if their tax or estate bill rises. People with school-age children, or who work in salaried jobs, are less likely to leave.

 

Andy Summers, an associate professor of law at the London School of Economics, studied a previous overhaul to the U.K. program in 2017 and found that about 5% of those affected left. Those who stayed paid 50% more in U.K. tax.

 

"It's not the first time wealth advisers have said the sky is falling in," he said. "But the noise is much louder this time."

 

Summers believes ending the non-dom status, which has been criticized as unfair for decades, will raise money.

 

"It is hard to make any fairness argument that one group of people who are living in the U.K. should be paying lower tax rates than others," he said.

 

Sales of London residential properties worth more than $10 million dropped by 37% in the first quarter, according to real-estate firm Knight Frank. Prices are at a 10-year low and deals that used to take a few days to negotiate now take weeks, said Stuart Bailey, the agency's head of super-prime sales in London.

 

"There's no question that people are leaving London," he said. "But it's definitely not doomsday."

 

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After Settling, Moving Out

 

Many wealthy expats argue that their contribution to the U.K. goes beyond taxes.

 

Canadian Ann Kaplan Mulholland moved to the U.K. in 2022, after she sold her medical-loan business and her youngest child started college. She bought a rundown 13th-century castle and spent GBP 15 million, equivaent to $20 million, to make renovations and build restaurants and a wedding business on site.

 

Mulholland hired a staff of roughly 100, joined her local church and started doing her grocery shopping at the retailer Marks & Spencer. But she is now on her way out. She and her husband, a plastic surgeon, applied to move to Italy, which charges a flat fee of about $230,000 a year for expats in lieu of tax on foreign income.

 

"It's very difficult to go because we're settled," she said. "I would be the happiest person ever if all this gets reversed." [1]

 

How dare the expats? Starmer is trying to save Zelensky’s but. This is a full time job. Zelensky explained many times, how much money he does need. A lot.

 

1. World News: Rich Expats Flee U.K. After Tax Change --- Ending a loophole to generate more revenue might not bolster British coffers. Dulaney, Chelsey; Dangoor, Natasha.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 21 July 2025: A8.