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14 October 2026
Hedge fund manager Chris Rokos paid an estimated £330m in UK taxes according to the last Sunday Times Tax List. Rokos has decided to relocate his tax residency from the United Kingdom to Greece. Under Greece’s alternative tax regime for wealthy investors, he qualifies for a flat annual tax of €100,000 (£86,000) on all foreign-sourced income for up to 15 years. He is not alone. According to The Bloomberg Billionaires Index the exodus of the uber-rich from the UK has become a £120bn problem. This is the total wealth represented by individuals in the list who have loosened or cut their ties with the UK over the past two years.
These remarkable numbers put the reported £35bn spending hole facing Chancellor John Healey into perspective as he prepares to set out the autumn budget later this month.
Unsurprisingly this exodus is having a significant impact on the upper end of the London residential property market. The Savills’ Prime London index is 27% below the recent peak in 2014. Adjusted for inflation between 2014 and 2026, the real decline in prices is approximately 50%.
The high number of NEETs (the number of 16-24 year olds not in education, employment or training) is equally unhelpful and impacting the public purse. According to the Office for National Statistics there were 981,000 NEETS between April and June this year, a 3% increase from 2025 and some 13% of all young people.
Very old hands will remember the early 1970s when the Conservatives under Edward Heath restructured the tax system. They cut the top rate on earned income to 75% and added a 15% investment surcharge making the top rate on investment income 90%.
A new, higher rate of 83% was established under the Labour government of Harold Wilson and Chancellor Denis Healey following their election victory in 1974. Add the 15% surcharge and the top marginal tax rate climbed to 98%.
Just two years later Denis Healey went cap in hand to the IMF following the Sterling crisis and the effective loss of foreign reserves. In September 1976 he requested a loan of $3.9bn, a record sum at the time, and an agreement was concluded in December 1976.
The conditions? In exchange for the financial bailout the IMF required deep public spending cuts and strict domestic credit controls.