I am 71 and, with my wife, own a modest house in west London that is valued at a little over £1 million. The fruits of a lifetime of earning and paying quite high rates of tax.
That wealth is entirely due to London property inflation caused by government incompetence in the failure to built new homes and immigration policy. I wish it didn't have that value because a wealth tax would be paid in cash I can't afford. In addition, the house will likely attract IHT, depriving my children, for whom high prices make it difficult for them to buy property in the south east at all. And on top of that the extortionate rate stamp duty makes the cost of 'changing down' prohibitive. My overall conclusion is that we are sitting ducks, whose capital will continue to be confiscated by government.
The only long term solution I can see, as you suggest, is to remove myself and my capital from the UK. The triggers will be any kind of wealth tax, inequitable capital gains tax or higher IHT.
I am 71 and, with my wife, own a modest house in west London that is valued at a little over £1 million. The fruits of a lifetime of earning and paying quite high rates of tax.
That wealth is entirely due to London property inflation caused by government incompetence in the failure to built new homes and immigration policy. I wish it didn't have that value because a wealth tax would be paid in cash I can't afford. In addition, the house will likely attract IHT, depriving my children, for whom high prices make it difficult for them to buy property in the south east at all. And on top of that the extortionate rate stamp duty makes the cost of 'changing down' prohibitive. My overall conclusion is that we are sitting ducks, whose capital will continue to be confiscated by government.
The only long term solution I can see, as you suggest, is to remove myself and my capital from the UK. The triggers will be any kind of wealth tax, inequitable capital gains tax or higher IHT.