Why 'tax-soaked' Britons may soon be eyeing your Dubai job

Nearly three-quarters of the UK’s higher earners feel ‘soaked’ by taxes and are tempted to quit Britain for greener pastures, a new survey has found out. The proposed increases to the tax rate may soon see a growing number of “working age, ambitious and career-focussed” Britons land up at the UAE’s shores, with Dubai and Abu Dhabi among the top expat destinations for them, it says.

The UAE has been a popular work destination for many British nationals, and they are indeed the biggest expat community in the country from among the Western world. The UAE’s good weather and a no-tax policy have traditionally attracted many British nationals to the country. Now, the proposed new changes to the UK tax system could see more professionals leaving their home country to work overseas and Dubai and Abu Dhabi, a consultancy has said.

According to a statement by deVere Group, an independent financial advisory organisation, a growing number of successful, working-age Britons may consider a move overseas after UK’s Chancellor George Osborne confirmed that the higher rate of tax threshold is to increase for the first time next month, and that it will steadily increase in the years to come.

The primary overseas work destinations that are most likely to benefit include Dubai, Abu Dhabi and some popular cities in Asia. “As our recent poll reveals, the UK’s higher earners already feel ‘soaked’ by taxes. Nearly three-quarters of those surveyed reported that they are tempted to quit Britain. As these people are of working age, ambitious and career-focussed, they would in our experience typically consider destinations such as Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Shanghai and South Africa,” said Nigel Green, founder and CEO of deVere Group.

deVere Group, which has more than 80,000 mainly expatriate clients worldwide, support this with the findings of a recent survey they carried out last month that concluded 72 per cent of middle to top earners in the UK have ‘seriously considered’, ‘are thinking about’, or ‘would be tempted’ by a move overseas.  And, personal taxation was cited as the primary motivation for quitting Britain for 65 per cent of those polled.

“The decision announced in the Budget to raise the threshold will drag yet more hardworking British people into the higher rate tax band. There’s already been an extra 1.4 million UK taxpayers pulled into this band over the last three years, with around 4 million paying this rate today [and the] number [could] reach 5.3 million by 2016. As such, the so-called ‘higher’ band increasingly looks more like a ‘regular’ band in the UK; it can no longer conceivably be seen exclusively as the tax bracket of ‘the rich’,” said Green.

“The one per cent announced in last week’s Budget may not be a huge increase but it is likely to be received as another blow by middle and top earners, and it will certainly further compound the sentiment for many that they are increasingly ‘soaked’ by taxes.

“I suspect that this could all trigger more of Britain’s top achievers to consider a move abroad to safeguard and maximise their money in order to give themselves and their families the best lifestyle opportunities.

“History has taught us that if higher earners perceive they are taxed too much, they will simply move elsewhere to lower tax jurisdictions because they have the resources to do so,” he added further.

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