Britain’s Wealthy Getting Richer

According to Richard Woods, Super-rich treble wealth in last 10 years, Times Online, April 29, 2007, the rich are getting richer in Britain.

The 260% rise in the wealth of Britain’s richest contrasts with a 120% average wealth increase for the population as a whole. Britons have benefited from the booming housing market but, unlike the super-rich, have done less well with their financial investments.

As the prime minister prepares to leave Downing Street, one legacy is a nation that has become a haven for the international super-rich. The number of billionaires living in Britain has surged to 68, up from 54 last year. About a third are from overseas and only three of the wealthiest 10 billionaires were born here [Britain].

The richest are Lakshmi Mittal, the Indian-born steel magnate now worth £19.25 billion, and Roman Abramovich, the Russian oil tycoon valued at £10.8 billion.

“They have come for the tax, the social circles and the security,” said Philip Beresford, the compiler of the list. “At first they were concentrated in London but now they are snapping up country estates.”

Complex rules on residency and domicile status mean the super-rich from overseas can, as one accountancy expert put it, “avoid paying virtually any tax in Britain apart from council tax”. Beresford added: “There’s the cluster effect. Russians have followed Abramovich, Indians are following the Mittals and Swedes are following the Rausings.”

Special thanks to Prof. Joel C. Dobris of the University of California-Davis for bringing this article to my attention.