Britain Is Now A Tax Haven

Well, according to the IMF, anyway. So I make the following points (note: the following points, not others such as that foreigners living here should at least pay the same tax as our own citizens, as of course they should) as much to invite reasoned refutation as anything else.

Since there is a global billionaire class, its members have to live somewhere, so it might as well be where their deals are subject to the social and environmental safeguards (admittedly, such as they often are) of our own company law, and are done through people subject to regulation (admittedly, such as it often is) by the Law Society or the Institute of Chartered Accountants. That class cannot like this too much, so there really must be something in the argument that its members prefer London for the culture, the ease of air travel, the global lingua franca as the native tongue, and the convenient timezone. All of which would of course still be the case if the tax rules were tightened up a bit.

I cannot understnad talk of pressure on housing or on public services. Roman Abramovich or Lakshmi Mittal is hardly likely to apply for a council flat, or to seek to purchase a three-bedroom semi-detached in suburbia. Nor, I bet, does he use the NHS, or make much, if any, use of public transport. And nor will he be sending his children to any school access to which was not already restricted to the offspring of the fabulously rich.

So, any thoughts?