Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Tracey Emin & Co: the "exile" that never was

Didn't Tracey Emin and other millionaires threaten to up sticks to dodge tax increases on the rich?

Time and again we hear threats from the rich, the greedy and the famous that, if taxation goes up by a penny or two, they will have to leave the country and bugger off elsewhere.

The most recent threat I remember was last November when Boris Johnson announced that Tracey Emin, Hugh Osmond and Michael Caine were already packing their bags. "The 50p tax rate that is beginning to drive these people away is a disaster for this country, and it is a double disaster that no one seems willing to talk about it", wrote the current London Mayor.

And only the most heartless envious leftist would not to see their point. Imagine the devastating psychological consequences of having to put off purchasing yet another mansion?

Either way, the simple question is: how long is it taking them to pack their bags? Have their travel agents been on strike for the last six months? What's stopping them from doing a Phil Collins, that is taking their quazillions to Lake Geneva?

It's the point made this morning by George Monbiot in the Guardian. "Sadly, most promises of self-imposed exile are empty", he wrote. "They seem to be intended, like Boris Johnson's warning last year that the City of London would be reduced to a ghost town by the new taxes, to dissuade the government from taking action".

Try and deny that.

1 comment:

Stan Moss said...

Boo to Tracey Emin. Most overrated "artist" in the world.