High taxes driving middle-class brain drain

High taxes driving middle-class brain drain


Britain is facing a middle-class brain drain as professionals leave in search of better lives overseas, a report has warned.








Around 149,000 British citizens emigrated last year Photo: PA





By Tim Ross, Political Correspondent

9:42PM GMT 06 Nov 2012




Almost half of all Britons who emigrate each year are professionals and company managers, potentially threatening the country’s supply of highly skilled workers, research for the Home Office found.


The attractions of a better lifestyle and climate, as well as career opportunities, meant a “large and increasing” number of executives, scientists, academics and doctors have chosen to leave Britain in the last 20 years, the report said.


Business leaders blamed high rates of income tax for the “disturbing” rises in the number of professionals leaving Britain for countries such as Australia, American and Canada. Around 149,000 British citizens emigrated last year, and 4.7 million now live overseas.


There were fears that high tax rates, cost of living and the slow economic recovery could prompt more people to emigrate.


Particular concerns have been raised in recent years over emigration by scientists, academics and pharmacists, who tend to remain abroad for many years.



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According to the research, the numbers of professionals such as doctors, engineers and senior company executives who are leaving the country has risen sharply in the past two decades.

“A large and increasing proportion of British citizens emigrating from the UK are those from professional or managerial occupations,” the report said. “This may have implications for the availability of skills in the UK.”

In 2010, 48 per cent of British emigrants came from professional backgrounds, compared with 37 per cent in 1991.

Britons emigrating to New York to work with major corporations tended to return home after one to three years. “In contrast, British scientists emigrating to Boston to work in pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies stayed in the USA for an average of 12 years,” the report said.

John Cridland, the director-general of the CBI, said he hoped that cuts to personal tax rates would stem the tide of emigrants. “These are disturbing figures,” he said. “There is no doubt that the spike in recent years was due in part to high personal tax rates, which the Chancellor is now tackling.”

Economists have warned that Britain’s tax rates are among the highest in the world. A report by the Adam Smith Institute said income tax rates had risen above those of France, damaging the UK’s competitiveness and stifling growth.

George Osborne plans to cut the 50p rate to 45p from next April. However, accountants have expressed concern that the cut will not be enough to make the UK more attractive than countries such as the US, Australia and Japan.

One in seven British citizens living overseas said they would stay abroad for “the favourable cost of living”. The report said the majority of British emigrants appeared to be “making a lifestyle choice”, rather than moving primarily for work.

The report warned that the Government’s decision to allow universities to charge up to £9,000 a year in fees could lead to an exodus of undergraduates searching for cheaper degrees abroad.

Nine out of 10 people who emigrated last year were of working age but up to 8,000 pensioners moved overseas. The peak year for pensioners emigrating was at the height of the property boom in 2006 when 22,000 emigrated. However, the numbers have fallen since the financial crisis as pensioners have found it more difficult to sell their homes to live “more cheaply” and in warmer locations abroad, the report said.

The study also suggested that migrants who move to the UK from elsewhere in Europe are much less likely to stay than those from poorer parts of the world, who add to Britain’s long-term population.

Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migration Watch UK, said: “These are exactly the migrants that the Government has the powers to control and they must do so. Otherwise our population will continue to grow at an unacceptable pace.”

A Home Office spokesman said ministers were “much more selective” about who was allowed to settle in the UK. He added: “We encourage the brightest and the best migrants and the UK remains an attractive destination. But to continue competing in a global race, businesses must invest in the skills of UK workers, and retain our own highly skilled workforce

The way things are going Britain will be left with all the dross , illegals, alcoholics, drug addicts etc, The middle class has been leaving in droves for years, because they can afford to and enjoy warmer climates. and Britain will end up a third world Country.