Smurfit: I'll have to quit UK over changes
By Edmund Conway, Robert Winnett and James Kirkup


Dermot Smurfit, um dos residenes mais ricos da Gra-Bretanha, anunciou que caso as medidas propostas pelo ministro das Financas Britanico venham a ser aprovadas nao tera outra escolha senao mudar-se para a Suica ou Monaco!

One of Britain's richest residents says he will leave the country if the Government brings in its controversial new charges for non-domiciles.

Comment: Darling's tax will sully our welcome mat
Non-doms to vote with their feet


In the balance: Dermot Smurfit will relocate to Switzerland or Monaco if the Government brings in its controversial new charges for non-domiciles


Dermot Smurfit, the Irish paper tycoon, is investigating moving to Monte Carlo or Switzerland if the Treasury brings in its promised changes to the tax treatment of foreign workers in the UK, he told The Daily Telegraph.

"If these changes come in I would probably leave the UK," he said. "This is no easy decision. I have five children in England all at private school — I don't place any burden on the state. I have contributed huge amounts to the country and pay significant taxes, about £150,000 a year. If they bring these changes in, it's goodbye, thanks very much. They would end up with nothing."

The Treasury is planning a £30,000 levy on non-doms as well as taxing UK assets held in offshore trusts, which will involve a significant increase in tax bills. The move has caused consternation in the City and a backlash from business leaders..

However, the Treasury seemed undecided on the details yesterday. A spokesman said: "There is some ambiguity over the draft clauses on these proposals. There was no intention to require additional disclosure of assets. This is not a rethink but we will make clarifications."

However, he said that with the Treasury planning a £30,000 levy on non-doms, as well as making far-reaching changes to the tax treatment of offshore trusts for non-doms, which will involve a significant increase in tax bills, he now intends to leave.

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Mr Smurfit, who has a share in a family fortune estimated to be worth almost half a billion pounds, part of which was generated when he and his brothers sold Jefferson Smurfit to private equity in 2002, is currently chairman of paper group, Powerflute. He has lived in the UK as a non-dom for 20 years but is now considering leaving. "This is a very difficult decision, since I would be leaving my wife and children behind," he said.

What are non-domiciles?
Non-doms: City reaction
Mr Smurfit, who has given £1.5m to charities including the NSPCC, said both he and a number of his friends had investigated moving to Monte Carlo and Switzerland, where the tax rules for resident foreigners are more lenient.

"We are seriously mobile people; we all pay significant taxes," he added. "The UK has been able to attract the best brains in the world. Then all of a sudden they are throwing this away. Are they doing this for the money or the ideology? It has to be the latter."

Some of Labour's biggest financial donors also attacked the plans, with Lord Paul, the Indian-born steel tycoon, who is Gordon Brown's most generous personal backer, saying: "We need to look at it very carefully or we will drive Britain back into being a tiny little country. I agree with [Lord] Digby Jones. This idea has been around for more than 10 years and it's a pity that someone should wake it up now. I have never seen such an unfair levy. The Labour Party has jumped into it."

Sir Gulam Noon, who has backed Labour with more than £450,000 and was nominated for a peerage by Tony Blair, said: "The economy is doing fine — why do you want to impact that? It's a political agenda, totally political. Everyone is against it. I will stay in the UK but a lot of people are watching and waiting with anxiety. The City will be hit by these cumbersome rules."

Although the Conservatives have backed a levy on non-doms, shadow chancellor George Osborne yesterday wrote to Mr Darling, saying: "It is not too late to abandon your ill-thought out and badly conceived plans."