Marcus Hutchins :verified: on Nostr: I just know I'm gonna be internally screaming at the UK 2024 budget plan. The UK ...
I just know I'm gonna be internally screaming at the UK 2024 budget plan.
The UK basically put itself into a death spiral by leaving the EU and massively harmed its ability to remain a global trading hub.
Conservative government did what conservative governments do, which is cut taxes and hire people who can't do math to explain what a budget deficit is.
Then the new left wing government came into power, and will likely do what left wing governments do, which is raise tax on the rich to try and make up the budget deficit.
The problem is, the UK isn't like the US. The US has an exit tax where if your net worth is over $2m and you try to leave the US, the IRS considers that equivalent to if you just sold absolutely everything you own all at once on the day you expatriate. Which essentially results in you owing capital gains tax on your entire global net worth (including unrealized gains). It's designed to basically just nuke billionaires from orbit, which is why almost nobody has ever done.
The UK on the other hand, is super easy to leave. Once you've been out of the UK for more than half a year, you basically stop incurring all UK taxes except on profits generated from real estate. You no longer owe dividend tax, capital gains tax, income tax, etc.
So the UK is in a super sticky spot where they have a huge budget hole to fill, but any attempt to raise taxes on the rich risks making them leave, as well as inhibiting the UK's ability to attract foreign investment, which right now they really need. They really need to look at restructuring tax policies and offering tax incentives for companies looking to invest in the UK, but I just know they're probably going to hammer some more nails into the coffin instead.
The UK basically put itself into a death spiral by leaving the EU and massively harmed its ability to remain a global trading hub.
Conservative government did what conservative governments do, which is cut taxes and hire people who can't do math to explain what a budget deficit is.
Then the new left wing government came into power, and will likely do what left wing governments do, which is raise tax on the rich to try and make up the budget deficit.
The problem is, the UK isn't like the US. The US has an exit tax where if your net worth is over $2m and you try to leave the US, the IRS considers that equivalent to if you just sold absolutely everything you own all at once on the day you expatriate. Which essentially results in you owing capital gains tax on your entire global net worth (including unrealized gains). It's designed to basically just nuke billionaires from orbit, which is why almost nobody has ever done.
The UK on the other hand, is super easy to leave. Once you've been out of the UK for more than half a year, you basically stop incurring all UK taxes except on profits generated from real estate. You no longer owe dividend tax, capital gains tax, income tax, etc.
So the UK is in a super sticky spot where they have a huge budget hole to fill, but any attempt to raise taxes on the rich risks making them leave, as well as inhibiting the UK's ability to attract foreign investment, which right now they really need. They really need to look at restructuring tax policies and offering tax incentives for companies looking to invest in the UK, but I just know they're probably going to hammer some more nails into the coffin instead.