The Russians are GOING?

[mc_squared]

Russian oligarchs 'preparing to flee Britain because of Labour's tax policies'

 

 

By Will Stewart

Last updated at 4:57 PM on 26th April 2010

 

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Wealthy Russians are preparing to leave Britain or remove their money from the City of London because of Labour's high tax policies, says a leading Moscow investment guru.

His warning of a capital flight comes after a decade which has seen affluent Reds-to-Riches billionaires buying up property, investing their vast fortunes, and using London as their gateway to the West.

The popularity became so great that Russians renamed the capital city 'Londongrad' or 'Moscow-onThames' - but now all that is about to change, according to Alexei Golubovich, chairman of Arbat Capital investment advisers.

'Changes in the tax laws of Great Britain are making more worries for those foreigners who have English residence permits or passports,' he said, suggesting that 'many Russians will leave Britain for this reason'.

 

 

Unfavourable: Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, right, and Arsenal shareholder Alisher Usmanov, shown here at a Chelsea game, are two of the most infamous of the Russian oligarchs in London. It is not clear if they are among thsoe planning to flee the British tax structure

 

He stressed: 'Living in London is not favourable any more.'

He claimed tax changes imposed or planned by Labour will force capital abroad to the detriment of the British economy.

 

'More and more wealthy foreigners, living in Britain for more than 90 days a year and paying income tax, are transferring their financial assets to other countries, and even moving themselves to Switzerland, Cyprus, Hong Kong or Singapore,' he said in influential Vedomosti business newspaper.

'According to unofficial estimates of bankers serving the most affluent Russian clients, from 10 to 25 per cent are considering the option of moving their funds to other countries, as well as changing the country where they are registered for tax.'

The sums involved represented hundreds of millions of pounds, he said, likening the situation to the 1970s when many wealthy people left Britain.

He told Russians that 'tens of billions of dollars' has been withdrawn already from British banks by foreigners of all nationalities.

 

'More money will not come into the country in the coming years because the owners do not want to pay British taxes on what was earned abroad,' he said.

'It is difficult to estimate how much money will be lost for the budget due to the fact that British banks will not earn commission from money moved to Switzerland or Hong Kong, and the fact that those money will not be invested in UK economy.'

Urging Russians to 'think twice' about Britain, he cited the 50 per cent tax rate on the rich, changes for 'non-domiciles', and new rules forcing the disclosure of wealth held abroad as factors in making Britain less attractive.

 

Other tax hikes, too, mean Britain has lost its competitive edge for private investors, he said.

 

Wealthy Russians have flocked to Britain for different reasons. As Mikhail Gorbachev once said: 'One day all you will see in the centre of London is Russians - they are buying up entire blocks.'

Some millionaires, like Boris Berezovsky - once a powerful Kremlin insider - fled 'politically motivated' prosecution by strongman prime minister Vladimir Putin and gained asylum in Britain.

Roman Abramovich - who maintains his close links to Putin - came quietly to base his business in Britain before becoming the most famous oligarch of all by buying Chelsea Football Club.

He held his second place in the latest Sunday Times Rich List, with a fortune of £7.4 billion.

 

Many oligarchs keep homes in Britain - among them Arsenal shareholder Alisher Usmanov and Oleg Deripaska, the metals king famous for sparking political controversy in Britain by entertaining both Lord Mandelson and George Osborne on his luxury yacht.

 

The family of Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov - whose wife is Russia's wealthiest businesswoman - also keep a London bolt hole.

 

There are also supermodels - notably Natalia Vodianova, who is married to English aristocrat Justin Portman - and a sporting millionaires like Arsenal's Andrey Arshavin, who has made his own outspoken criticism of Gordon Brown's tax changes, arguing they would destroy the supremacy of the Premier League in Europe.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1268954/Russian-oligarchs-preparing-flee-Britain-Labours-tax-policies.html#ixzz0mECmowTi

[Matter-Eater Lad]

Gotta love those Russians

[Saffire]

'More and more wealthy foreigners, living in Britain for more than 90 days a year and paying income tax, are transferring their financial assets to other countries, and even moving themselves to Switzerland, Cyprus, Hong Kong or Singapore,' he said in influential Vedomosti business newspaper.

 

How long before a charismatic US president leads a "coalition of the willing" to to invade these countries? :rolleyes: