Threats to go offshore beyond bluster
Tax expert claims FDs will return from holidays ready to examine the case for relocation
Warnings from financial institutions that they could take their companies
offshore because of the new 50% tax rate goes beyond mere threats, according to
a PricewaterhouseCoopers expert.
Alex Henderson, a partner at the firm, is quoted in
The
Times as saying bankers are returning to work to have a “hard look at the
numbers” and that finance directors would be examining the pros and cons of
relocating abroad.
Henderson said the anger is not just over the 50% tax, but is borne of
changes to pension rules, national insurance and income tax that have left the
well paid worse off.
An exodus of banks and financial institutions moving offshore would be a blow
to the government’s economic policy ahead of this year’s general election.