Rachel Reeves considers 20% tax on assets of people deciding to leave UK

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/nov/01/rachel-reeves-considers-20-tax-on-assets-of-people-deciding-to-leave-uk?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

by topotaul

44 comments

  1. Labour over-gauges police’s on social media to see if it’s popular or not. Yes, tax the wealth. Do it. Just dont tax workers like promised.

  2. “The Treasury has drawn up plans for a “settling-up charge” on assets; a move that would bring the UK into line with most other G7 nations and raise a predicted £2bn for the public coffers, according to the Times.”

    No problem with this. Maybe go further than 20%

  3. Paid bots complaining about actions that hit those who exploited the system

  5. It’s just a barrage of reaction testing doom leaks to the media before the actual rogering happens. Foreplay if you will.

    Maybe it’ll soften the blow of the actual rogering, who knows.

  6. The issue is this can force you to realise gains in order to pay the tax. Germany has similar problems with this, where it mostly hurts small business owners.

  7. Borrowing against assets above a certain level should be taxed as income. If you’re a multi-millionaire and you live off the money you borrow against assets, the amount borrowed should be taxed as income.

    Plus also concentrate turning VAT back into an actual luxury tax.

  8. They could just… make it so that people don’t want to leave. Theyre out of ideas.

  9. Wouldn’t that stop people and businesses coming to the country? Knowing you have to pay up to leave again?

  10. There’s not a huge amount left to squeeze in taxes, you cannot just raise a tax and not account for the change in behaviour. The data around the last change to Capital Gains allowance has shown this (tax free allowance went down -> government revenue from CGT went down).

    Speaking of CGT and as an example, the government raised £4 billion in 2012 from CGT, compared with £17 billion in 2022. The notion that there’s not enough tax revenue is just not true, a lack of smart leadership to spend it, is.

    A 20% exit tax is a shot in the foot. Why on earth would you set up a business in the UK or invest in the UK knowing you’re going to be hit 20% on the way out when there are numerous better countries that don’t? You may get some tax revenue for a few years, but it will very quickly dry up.

    I don’t know why “reduce spending on pensions, welfare, asylum, etc” is never an option? The government has plenty of revenue, the population aren’t undertaxed, the government is just incapable of spending it properly.

  11. Wouldn’t that stop people and businesses coming to the country? Knowing you have to pay up to leave again?

  12. Judge a country by how it put up walls to keep their countrymen in and stop them escaping

  13. I always associated an “exit tax” with the Nazi’s doing this to the Jews before WW2. I didn’t realise other countries did something similar now. I am surprised.

    I am not automatically against it though, but it doesn’t really seem a British thing to do..

  14. If they do this it needs to be implemented ASAP so lots of wealthy don’t make plans to leave between announcement and practice. Feels a bit ignorant to ask – but don’t some measures need to go via Parliament first though?

  15. They’re just testing the headline to see how markets react

  16. How do you know they’re leaving the UK until they’ve actually gone?

  17. They will just not own anything. And get a loan and give her the finger as they walk by her window

  18. Could someone who knows about economics or not tell me if this is a good thing?

    I fear I have been tempted too much towards the ideas of Henry George (Blame Rory Sutherland) and I don’t know enough about any of this stuff to decide whether it’s right or not.

  19. But if the rich are not leaving, why is this measure needed?

  20. It seems that most people don’t understand this or are just going off about the clickbait headline.

    You do not pay CGT on your home. You do pay CGT on second homes and investments, but you are taxed on the gains, not the total worth.

    This revision closes a loophole whereby someone could take up domicile in another country and dispose of business assets without paying tax. On the gains.

    It’s not a major new sweeping tax, it just brings our tax system inline with other G7 nations.

  21. Again nothing but short term thinking from labour. While 20% might raise a bit from the odd millionaire who hasn’t already left the UK in the end it will do nothing to make a dent in the long term shortfall she is creating. Remember the government generates nothing having it’s coffers filled they are purely reliant on the private sector.

  22. People making 25k per year about to get really annoyed with this

  23. Considering… or will a word from a donor stop this.

  24. Reading all these comments and I just think Capital by Thomas Picketty should become essential reading for many.

  25. This seems kinda silly. Just make it so they have to pay the taxes that are currently there. Why do they have to immediately realise the gains? 

  27. Good. Everything from the benefits cuts to the disabled to the high taxes to the middle class is explored to raise money yet those that use our citizens as customers, employees and land hold us hostage whilst they make billions. Joke!

    About time.

  28. But people have already paid through their noses taxes on everything they own.
    So that’s a tax on taxation or daylight robbery and scaremongering to stop people that are fed up with all these state crimes against its own citizens

  29. The trouble with socialism is, sooner or later you run out of other peoples money.

  30. That fucker from Revolut moving to avoid a monumental cap gains tax. Tell me how this is fair: you start a business in a country that has furnished you with the skills you’ll need. It alao provides you with educated people to do work for you. The place you start your company is safe and has all the infra you’ll need to get started)

    Moving away is just such a gigantic “fuck you I’m not paying for all of this” 

    Correct me where I’m wrong 

  31. For skilled foreigners and people with a few investments (no, you don’t need to be a billionaire to qualify), the UK is becoming increasingly less attractive. 

    Just in a few years:

    * CGT allowance: 12k to 3k
    * Dividend allowance: 5k to 500
    * CGT 20 to 24
    * Pension no longer inheritable tax free
    * Frozen tax bands for… I lost the count of the years 
    * The >60% tax trap after 100k still exists, and no one talks about it. It’s incredibly unfair
    * There’s still no tapering on the loss of childcare benefits, it’s a stupid cliff edge 
    * Inheritance tax at 40% with a relatively low allowance is one of the highest in the world 

    Every year it gets worse. And all of a sudden, whoopsie! Another financial black hole! Let’s raise more tax, that’ll surely fix it. 

    All while being squeezed by inflation and extortionate house & transportation prices.

    In the meantime, every day we see billions being wasted to house a bunch of horny third worlders and to fund Andrew’s whore parties in Thailand. 

    And the police is a mirage. And the NHS is hell for non emergencies (hello, 30+ days to see a gp!).

    I’d be OK to pay more tax to see a return on investment, but I just can’t see it. 

    I moved here 11 years ago and it made sense back then, but nowadays I have a hard time recommending anybody to consider this country for their future. 

  32. Huh. So that does kind of solve the issue of the rich wanting to flee

  33. This is the final nail in the coffin. One of the most attractive features of the UK which allowed entrepreneurs to come to the UK, build businesses, employ people, pay corporation tax might be scraped.

    Instead of the ‘exit tax’ the UK currently implements the ‘returning tax’ (https://www.gov.uk/tax-return-uk) which to my mind is way superior. Instead of taxing your already taxed business profits when you leave, you can choose between leaving the UK and effectively not being allowed to come back for 5 years (<90 days, no work, no apartment, no spouse in UK ) or staying and just paying dividend tax. I’d suggest extending the period to 10 years.

    Maybe the next step is to get rid of all double taxation treaties. That would make even more money for a very short period of time.

  34. > While expat status does not provide an exemption from 20% capital gains tax on the sale of UK property and land valued at £6,000 or more, it does on the sale of some other assets, such as shares in many companies.

    > Under the new plans, the 20% charge would be levied on the value of these assets when exiting the country.

    But CGT is 24% not 20%, since Rachel Reeves increased it a year ago…?

    Also the annual exempt amount was dropped from £6k to £3k.

  35. Great, can’t even escape without being taxed. What’s next? Tax me for breathing?! 

  36. I would prefer a withholding tax on the disposal of business assets when a non-resident owner sells their business.

    This would still allow entrepreneurs to run businesses in the UK whilst also being able to do business somewhere else in world without being worried that this stupid tax is triggered.

  37. People are only leaving because of the government so they are charging them for the pleasure lol sounds like a timeshare holiday home they f@ck you over then charge you to leave

  38. How is this fair? If someone from Europe, working here 5-10 years buys a home here then decides to sell up, go back to Europe (using the money by selling this house to buy another house there) he/she’ll be hit with 20% tax?

  39. This will make all the rich people move before it’s implemented

  40. i’d bet my arse that this would never apply to the mega rich.

  41. Lol “you’re not allowed to be a citizen anymore, but now that you have to leave, I’m going to tax you again on what you’ve managed to build.”

  42. Unethical. Don’t make it harder for people to leave, make it a better country so they stay.

  43. You know a government is bad when they have to try to stop you from leaving.

  44. We must be on a bad way if we’re considering what’s functionally a capital flight control….

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