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\t\tBritain lost more billionaires than any other country between 2023 and 2024 (photo by Mike Kemp\/In Pictures via Getty Images)\t<\/p>\n
The UK has lost the most billionaires of any country in the world in the last two years, fresh data has shown, exacerbating fears that Britain\u2019s footloose super-rich residents would continue to flee the country if forced to pay a wealth tax.<\/p>\n
According to updated numbers from New World Wealth<\/a>, the UK lost a quarter of its billionaire population over the course of 2023 and 2024, the highest share of any major economy including sanction-hit Russia.<\/p>\n The country lost 18 billionaires to other jurisdictions over the two-year period, researchers said, taking the total number residing in the UK down to 72 by the end of 2024. <\/p>\n The figure is considerably higher than the 12 that quit second-placed China and the 10 that left India, which suffered the third largest exodus. Russia lost eight billionaires overall; the second-highest in percentage terms.<\/p>\n The findings will also not include the more recent high-profile departures from the UK of steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal<\/a>, chemicals tycoon Nassef Sawiris<\/a>, or property investors Richard and Ian Livingstone. <\/p>\n All four billionaires left Britain since the start of this year, after the government announced a host of punitive tax rises targeted at the country\u2019s wealthiest taxpayers, including abolishing the non-dom regime, applying VAT on private school fees and raising the top rate of capital gains tax.<\/p>\n Marc Acheson, global wealth specialist at Utmost Wealth Solutions, told City AM that a series of decisions by consecutive governments meant the findings were \u201cunsurprising\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThis outflow began in March 2024 when the Conservatives announced the end of the resident non-dom regime and then accelerated at pace following the measures announced at the Autumn Budget,\u201d he said, adding: \u201cAs an internationally mobile group, they have the means and most incentive to leave. <\/p>\n \u201cThey are moving rapidly to countries that are competing aggressively to welcome them with more attractive regimes.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/p>\n \t\t\tJohn Caudwell: Bezos gives billionaires a bad name<\/a><\/p>\n \tWealth tax could drive more billionaires from UK <\/p>\n The figures also bring into sharp relief growing fears that a wealth tax would accelerate the rate of departures from Britain, after a deluge of warnings from tax lawyers and wealth advisers that the UK is losing its wealthiest residents at a record rate.<\/p>\n Keir Starmer<\/a> and his spokesman have refused to rule out a blanket levy on wealth forming part of the government\u2019s upcoming Budget, as he and Chancellor Rachel Reeves look to plug a roughly \u00a320bn hole in the public finances without raising any taxes on \u201cworking people\u201d.<\/p>\n As recently as April, Reeves vowed she would not impose any new wealth taxes in the Autumn Budget<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not interested in a wealth tax,\u201d she told The Telegraph. \u201cOur priority is to grow the economy and that\u2019s the way that you make working people better off and secure better public finances.\u201d<\/p>\n Since then, the Treasury has been forced to weather a storm of higher state spending commitments, including higher borrowing costs and several expensive U-turns like the \u00a34bn decision to row back from welfare reforms.<\/a><\/p>\n Economists remain sceptical that a blanket tax on wealth would generate meaningful revenues for the Treasury, with some of the opinion that the levy could cost the Exchequer money overall.<\/p>\n Paul Johnson, the outgoing director of the non-partisan Institute for Fiscal Studies, has previously said that implementing the levy would be \u201cpractically impossible\u201d. <\/p>\n And pointing to failed attempts in other countries, Tax Policy Associates boss Dan Neidle said it would be \u201carrogant\u201d of the Labour Party to assume it would work in Britain.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/p>\n