Indian-origin businessman Lakshmi Narayan Mittal is leaving Britain. He is troubled by the ‘excessive taxes’ imposed on the rich. Mittal was living in Britain for almost 30 years. Lakshmi Mittal is the chairman of ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steel company. According to Forbes, his net worth is around $22 billion (about Rs 2 lakh crore).
It is being claimed in some media that Lakshmi Mittal’s tax residency has shifted to Switzerland. Now he is planning to go to Dubai.
This news comes at a time when Britain’s Finance Minister Rachel Reeves is going to present her second budget. In this budget, she can propose to increase the tax on the rich. It is believed that the tax will be increased to meet the financial shortfall of 20 pounds.
Read this also–How much has this fear that breathing becomes fatal increased the market of air purifiers?
Why are the rich leaving Britain?
Even before Lakshmi Mittal, many rich people had left Britain. This trend has been going on ever since the Labor Party came to power in Britain.
A family advisor associated with Mittal said, ‘The issue is not about income tax or capital gains tax. The real problem was inheritance tax. He said, ‘It is beyond the understanding of many rich people why inheritance tax should be imposed in Britain on all their assets located anywhere in the world?’
“Such people feel they have no option but to leave the UK and are unhappy or even angry at doing so,” the adviser said.
There are reports that inheritance tax in Britain may be up to 40% whereas there is no such tax in Dubai and Switzerland.
After the news of Lakshmi Mittal leaving Britain, Indian-origin tech investor Harman Narula is also planning to go to Dubai. Narula is 37 years old and has been living in England since the age of two.
Read this also–What is the loss if ChatGPT goes down for X minutes?
What taxes are imposed on the rich?
Well, it is clear that the more you earn, the more tax you will pay. The rich are taxed all over the world.
In India, if a person’s annual income is more than Rs 1 crore, he is considered ‘super-rich’. Annual income above Rs 1 crore is taxed at 30%. Apart from this, surcharge also has to be paid. If the income is more than Rs 5 crore, then it can be taxed up to 42% including surcharge. Capital gains tax of 10 to 20% is also imposed in India.
However, rich people like Lakshmi Mittal have to pay inheritance tax. This is a kind of tax that is levied on the distribution of a person’s property after his death.
This type of tax is imposed in many countries including America. Last year, Congress leader Sam Pitroda had talked about imposing inheritance tax on the rich in India also. There was a lot of controversy on this.
In Britain, currently 45% income tax is imposed on the rich. Apart from this, capital gains tax of 20 to 28% is applicable. The government is now preparing to bring a proposal to impose 40% inheritance tax on the rich.
At the same time, there is no income tax in Gulf countries like Dubai and Qatar. There is neither capital gains tax nor inheritance tax here. In these countries, tax is imposed not on earning but on spending.
Read this also–YouTube, Netflix or JioHotstar, who earns the most?
What does the British government say?
Britain’s Business and Trade Secretary Peter Kyle admitted that he is worried about the rich leaving the country.
On the question of Lakshmi Mittal leaving Britain, he said, ‘Whenever someone feels that he has to leave the UK to be successful, I worry.’
He said, ‘We have gone through a period where thousands of doctors left the country. I don’t want us as a country to focus only on billionaires because there are other people who have been forced to leave.
Peter Kyle also said that the Labor Party government has increased taxes and made some changes in non-dom policies. However, Kyle also said that there are still many people who are coming to do business in Britain.
The non-dom system is called one in which people coming from abroad could declare themselves ‘non-domicile’ while living in the UK and avoid high taxes. This has now been abolished.
Comments are closed.