Tax, Politics and Crime Top UK Concerns for Golden Visas

UK Investor Survey Results

There has been a lot of discussion and speculation lately about an exodus of wealthy people from the United Kingdom, particularly given the recent, and potential further tax changes coming in the November budget.

La Vida received over 1,000 new enquiries in the last year alone and over 5,000 in the last ten years from UK citizens and residents exploring golden visa options in order to switch or supplement their UK residency. This group is those that can afford the typical €500,000+ needed to make such a move through investment. It may not represent those looking to leave through other means, such as work visas or family ties.

We don’t wish to draw conclusions on how many individuals or how much wealth is leaving. The UK government is far better positioned to present and explain such figures, but seems remarkably sanguine on the matter despite 1% of top earners contributing 29% of all income tax. However what we can do at La Vida is present the fears and concerns driving the decisions of those who are looking to leave through investment routes.

Global Mobility is Growing

The fact is that in today’s world people have more options and the world is a far smaller, more connected place. Many entrepreneurs, business owners and talented workers such as digital nomads can choose from a host of countries and programmes that will gladly accept their wealth and talent. We have witnessed the remarkable rise in such programmes designed to help economies in the last ten years or so. It is part of the race for global wealth.

Tax and visa policies in some countries, such as Portugal, Italy, UAE and Malta, have evolved to take advantage of this new mobility. Other countries, such as the UK, have failed to develop policies that both retain and attract wealth.

To better understand the reasons behind wealthy individuals looking to leave the UK La Vida undertook a survey to find what was influencing their interest and decisions.

Taxation Tops List of Concerns

When asked “What concerns are influencing your decision to consider a second residency or citizenship?” 88.9% of respondents cited taxation. Respondents could choose as many options as they wished. Political concerns were 72.8% and perhaps surprisingly Crime and Security came in at 59.3%. This is particularly surprising when compared to the USA. An identical question to our US clients two weeks ago found that Crime and Security accounted for just 33.6% of concerns in the USA.

Capital Gains Tax was the Biggest Fear

When asked “what rumoured changes to the following taxes make it more likely you will leave the UK?” Capital Gains Tax topped the pile at 94.7%. Wealth Tax followed closely behind at 92.7%. Of least concern but still high was Corporation Tax at 52.5%. Again respondents could select more than one.

Portugal Tops List of Destinations

When asked “which destinations would you most seriously consider” Portugal was the clear winner. 50.6% of respondents picked Portugal as one of their top two choices. Spain, perhaps helped by the Beckham tax law, had the second highest interest at 23.5%. Italy, with it’s new flat tax policy, came in at 17.2%. The UAE was just 13.6%. However we feel that a lot of the noise around UAE in the press in recent months may be more to do with job seekers, talent and opportunity, rather than wealthy migrants. Perhaps a far greater long term loss to the UK whichever way you look at it.

Political Persuasion

Finally, we had to ask “which of the following best describes your political alignment in the UK”. Conservative was first at 33.3%, followed by Reform 28.5% and Labour at 14.3%. Considering the latest poling figures by Ipsos (Conservative 14% Reform 34% Labour 22%) then Conservative voters were dis-proportionally represented although perhaps not by as much as we would have expected.

The survey carried out in the week of 27th October found that 70.4% of all respondents were born in the UK. This is marginally below the national average of 76% although to be expected given the global mobility of many of our clients. The average net wealth of respondents was £12.3million and 91.4% of those taking part had net wealth greater than £1 million.

If you are considering leaving the UK or simply securing a ‘Plan B’ residency or citizenship for the future, you are not alone. Please reach out to La Vida’s expert advisors who can guide you on your options.

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Tags: Taxation, Uk