What happens next? Well, he might keep paying large amounts of tax, or he might consider Monaco or Switzerland as an option and fly into the country to do performances. Now, this might sound odd, but most of the work of a comic isn't in the performances - it's in the writing and rehearsing, and yes, you can do that anywhere.
And this is where LVT, it seems to me works. It doesn't tax based on being "rich", it taxes based on whether you need to be in a location. Businesses that can be based anywhere in the world that can go for the lowest tax regime will be attracted (like search engines) because they will pay little tax, while the businesses that really have to be in a location (like London Hotels) will pay a hefty tax. Will a London Hotel quit the country? No. The location isn't portable.
That was my first thought. He owns an £8.5 million house FFS, slap him with a £500,000 annual tax bill and tell him that he can keep every penny of his earned income.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, HMRC did such a deal with Fayed ten or twenty years ago, they told him, it's all far too complicated, pay us £200,000 a year and we'll leave you in peace, and he coughed up quite happily.