Over the past two years, billionaires with a combined net worth of $160 billion have left Britain. That's more than the total net worth of those who remained.

Billionaires who have left the United Kingdom or weakened their ties to it over the past two years collectively hold $160 billion, according to Bloomberg’s calculations based on its own billionaire index. That is more than the combined wealth of the British billionaires on the list who still live in the country. The Financial Times reports that the entrepreneurs were driven to leave by the elimination of tax breaks for wealthy foreigners and fears that the Labour Party would continue to raise taxes.

Most of the billionaires who left are foreigners, many of whom had settled in Britain relatively recently, while some had, frankly, very few ties to the country, according to Bloomberg. Half of them left permanently—including to Monaco, Switzerland, and the UAE—a few weeks before April 2025, when the tax reform took effect. The reform’s key measure was the abolition of the “non-dom” status, which had allowed foreign nationals to avoid paying British taxes on overseas assets for up to 15 years.

Among those who have left is steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, who for many years was considered one of the symbols of wealthy London. The youngest among them is 39-year-old Shravin Mittal, the son of Indian entrepreneur Sunil Mittal. Shravin founded an investment company in Britain and is now settling in the UAE.

Unlike most of those who have left the island, hedge fund manager Chris Rokos is British—and, moreover, one of the country’s largest taxpayers. In September, it was reported that he was transferring his tax residency to Greece.

In Greece, wealthy foreigners can pay a flat fee of €100,000 per year for up to 15 years in lieu of tax on foreign income, regardless of how much they earn. Last year, Rokos’s income from Rokos Capital Management totaled 477 million pounds sterling (€526.94 million at the current exchange rate): while the markets were in turmoil, his hedge fund performed well, notes the FT.

Bloomberg wonders whether other native-born Britons will follow Rokos's lead and leave. Henley & Partners, a consulting firm that helps people obtain residency and citizenship, says it has seen an increase in inquiries, including from British citizens.

These departures have very tangible consequences, Bloomberg notes. According to government data cited by the agency, the top 1% of British earners account for about 27% of income tax revenue. When they leave, they also stop spending large sums in Britain. The waning interest of the ultra-wealthy in Britain is hitting the London luxury market: sales of high-end homes have fallen, and buyers of expensive real estate, according to real estate agents, often haggle, seeking discounts to offset the risks of investing in the country.

Peter Hargreaves, co-founder of Hargreaves Lansdown—Britain’s largest self-directed investing platform and, according to the Sunday Times, the country’s sixth-largest taxpayer—fears that other billionaires may follow Rokos’s lead and leave the country. “We can’t afford to lose many of them. Lose four, and you’ll lose 1 billion pounds [in taxes],” he told the FT. Hargreaves disagrees with Jim Ratcliffe, founder of the petrochemical company Ineos, who claimed that Britain is “going downhill”: “The country isn’t going downhill—it’s already gone downhill.”

Official data do not yet allow for an assessment of the scale of departures. In the tax year that ended on April 5, 2025— the last one before the non-dom tax relief was abolished—about 73,400 people took advantage of it, which was 0.5 percent, or 400 people, fewer than the previous year, the UK Tax and Customs Authority reported in July. However, the taxes and contributions they paid rose by 7%, to 9.7 billion pounds (€11.45 billion). Based on these figures, the FT concluded that fears of a mass exodus are exaggerated.

However, the tax year that began in April 2025—the first under the new rules—has not yet been included in the statistics. The government has promised to publish accurate estimates only in 2027, according to Bloomberg. Telegraph columnist Liam Halligan also believes that the media misread the official statistics and underestimated the scale of departures. According to him, another 800 former non-doms left the country; due to their long-term residence in Britain, they were already paying taxes on par with British citizens. Thus, 1,200 people left the country over the course of the year—three times the widely reported figure, Halligan asserts.

In October, the British government will present its budget, and economists expect Finance Minister John Healy to raise taxes, according to the FT. Rumors surrounding the budget are prompting people to at least consider their options and prepare a backup plan, Bloomberg quotes Mark Somers, co-founder of a London-based recruitment agency for family offices, as saying. “The exodus isn’t over,” he added.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who succeeded Keir Starmer, promises to pursue policies that benefit business. Bankers, however, have already spoken out against a potential tax on excess profits, which they say would drive capital out of the country. Even under Starmer, the government was quietly exploring ways to make Britain more attractive to the wealthy. A confidential survey sent to wealth management advisors and reviewed by Bloomberg mentioned the idea of introducing an investor visa granting residency for 5 million pounds (€5.9 million).

But people are also moving in the opposite direction. Raja Mekouar, a veteran of the private equity investment market, moved to the U.K. from Belgium this year, taking advantage of a new tax break for newcomers. Speaking on Bloomberg Television, she said that despite political challenges, London still has plenty of advantages. But she also has a warning for Britain: “Wealth tax is a term that always provokes strong aversion.” “I have many British investor friends who are very concerned,” Mekouar added.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor