‘Living under Labour will cost me millions – it’s unbelievably depressing’

Wealthy taxpayers are quitting the country “by the plane-load” amid fears Labour is plotting to turn the screws on the rich.

Disenchanted entrepreneurs and high-earners who have already moved abroad told The Telegraph that the prospect of losing millions of pounds to a Labour tax grab was “unbelievably depressing”.

High-end tax advisers have also described an exodus of ultra-high net worth “non-doms” fleeing Britain for lower-tax regimes – and taking their wealth with them.

Labour has vowed to crack down on Britain’s 68,800 non-doms, who live in the country but avoid paying UK tax on money they make overseas.

The party has pledged not to raise income tax, National Insurance or VAT, but has failed to rule out raising capital gains tax (CGT).

One successful British entrepreneur said he and his family had been “forced out” of the country “now that the politics of envy has arrived in Number 10”.

He is moving with his family from Oxfordshire to Jersey to escape the country’s high-tax regime which he expects to get worse under the new government.

He said: “Labour will be a disaster. The prospect of capital gains tax rising is stomach-churning. It’s depressing beyond belief.”

His business, built up over 44 years, generates £50m a year in revenue and employs 70 people.

“I’ve had 19 weeks of holiday in all that time – I’ve worked extremely hard.

“I’ve also paid very substantial tax as an individual and have been happy to do it.”

Now in his mid-70s, he is rushing to push through the sale of the business before a possible tax hike in the first Labour Budget later this year.

“I’m selling a business worth £78m. If capital gains becomes equivalent to income tax then it goes from 20pc to 45pc for me. It would cost me millions – it’s eye-wateringly ridiculous.”

The reader has voted Conservative all his life, but is now “leaning towards” Reform, which gained four seats in the Commons on Friday.

“None of the parties are listening. If we remained in the UK we’d be paying inheritance tax – destroying the value of the business we’ve built.

“I don’t want to leave the UK but I feel like I’ve been forced to.

“I’m friends with one of the most pre-eminent heart surgeons in the UK – he is deeply frustrated and has been offered a job in Dubai and has taken it.

“It’s not just the super-wealthy who are fleeing. It’s people who are paying tax disproportionately.”

One such émigreé is Ian Dunn, 62, who left Britain 10 months ago to spend his retirement in Gibraltar, tempted by the sun, lifestyle and low taxes.

He said: “The health service actually works here, the police are very traditional. I also only pay 2.5pc tax on my pension and I don’t pay any tax on my savings.”

Mr Dunn fell “comfortably” into the additional rate tax bracket in his final job, running the human resources department for an American software company.

“The next place Labour are going to go is after people who have made the right decisions in their life, and have already paid a lot of tax.”

He has calculated that moving to Gibraltar saved him £60,000 in tax last year.

Britain’s punitive tax environment is driving wealthy individuals abroad, according to Mr Dunn.

“There’s a community out there in very similar positions [to me].

“It’s a competitive environment, and people are increasingly mobile. You have countries that are attractive places to live, and Britain can’t compete.

“We’re going to go through a 1970s moment – we’re going to have blackouts, because we’ve mismanaged the economy. That was the Tories’ fault, but it will get worse with Labour.”

Many non-doms find themselves in a similar position.

Jeremy Hunt, the former chancellor, announced he would abolish non-dom status in the 2024 Budget.

Rachel Reeves, the newly appointed Chancellor, said in April that Labour would go further and close an inheritance tax loophole that gives non-doms until April 2025 to put overseas funds into a trust – and raise £430m a year by doing so.