I’d like to ask the flighty millionaires: where is your sense of civic duty?
In their rush to defend the rich, the right have revealed a depressing truth – public service is now optional for the elite
Oh no, the millionaires are fleeing London! Why? Not war, wildfires, water shortages or near-permanent delays on the District line, but because they might finally be asked to pay tax like the rest of us. The long-overdue closure of the non-dom tax loophole has sent right-wing commentators into panic. Britain, they warn, is about to lose its best and brightest. What they mean, of course, is its richest.
There’s something bleakly revealing about the right’s framing of this so-called exodus of 11,300 millionaires from the UK (the source of data punctuating the coverage is eyebrow-raising at best). It rests on the idea that we must tolerate the self-interest of people willing to hold the UK to ransom to maintain a semi-functioning economy, accommodating people so consumed by personal gain that they’ll abandon their homes, communities, and responsibilities the moment the taxman comes knocking.
The right will argue that they already pay more than their share: it’s true that the top 10 per cent of income taxpayers contribute over 60 per cent of income tax receipts. But here’s the point: it’s still not enough. Our public services are on their knees after years of austerity, and any fiscal headroom the Chancellor scrapes together is instantly wiped out by global shocks.
The UK economy is caught in a death spiral. With the government misguidedly wedded to rigid fiscal rules, its only levers to “balance the books” remain tax rises or spending cuts. This government — supposedly centre-left at its core — has opted for a counterintuitive mix of both: cutting support for vulnerable groups who can not place an outraged op-ed in The Telegraph, while tinkering at the edges of the tax system. Without serious revenue generation and investment, it’s presiding over managed decline. Yet everyone knows what’s needed: a bold package of investment in services and infrastructure and a radical rethink of how our tax system works, to get the country healthy, working, and productive again.
So, what would these millionaires prefer? To donate a fraction more of their wealth, or see their employees take the hit? The choice is between higher taxes on workers, which means less consumer spending, falling productivity, and staff turnover, or further cuts to public services, which means sicker workers, transport delays, more road closures, and fewer customers through the door. In the long run, the save the rich strategy is nothing more than bad economics.
We’re told that losing the wealthiest means losing the very best of Britain, and that taxing the rich is a punishment for their ambition and hard work. But this narrative ignores the millions who work tirelessly for very little—nurses, cleaners, hospitality workers, teachers, care workers—many of whom rely on food banks or universal credit to get by. Nor does this justify expanding national wealth inequality. In 2022, incomes for the poorest 14 million people fell by 7.5 per cent, while the richest fifth saw their incomes rise by 7.8 per cent. Throughout COVID and other world crises, the rich have seen their assets appreciate, while the poor are expected to weather the storm.
These people are described as vital to the nation, engines of innovation, growth, and prosperity. Without them, we’re told, the country would crumble. So which is it? Are they ruthlessly self-serving cowards who flee at the first sign of civic duty, or visionary entrepreneurs building Britain’s future?
And if they’re truly such economic servants, surely they understand the basic principle of investment and return: Invest more in your country, get a healthier, more stable, more productive society in return.
Of course, not all millionaires. In fact, I’d wager many resent being cast as selfish ghouls with no regard for their country. Groups like Patriotic Millionaires, a campaign group of wealthy business leaders calling for fairer taxation, show us what responsible capitalism can look like. They support equalising tax on income and assets and introducing a wealth tax to fund the rising costs of public investment.
But listen to how their perspective is received by the media and the contradiction becomes clear: the right both worships the rich and assumes the worst of them. Their entire argument against fair taxation rests on the idea that millionaires are incapable of recognising that a functioning society — one with working hospitals, safe roads, and properly resourced schools — is actually good for business.
We don’t need millionaires who are only here for the loopholes. We need citizens who see themselves as part of a shared project. Thriving markets depend on healthy workers, good infrastructure, and a basic sense of fairness. A country isn’t just a tax haven with a national anthem, and if some of the ultra-wealthy don’t want to be part of that, it’s time to let them go. Close the loopholes, raise the standards and invest in the majority.
Because if your business model depends on avoiding tax, maybe you’re not the genius you think you are.
See more of our Westminster Editor Zoë Grünewald writing on a range of political topics, from the inevitable fracturing of Reform, to the short-sighted cutting of international aid budgets, how new austerity is ‘scorched earth policy’ to the political and economic inequality faced by the North of England and civil service cutbacks. Consider becoming a paid supporter of The Lead to receive exclusive additional stories and content from Zoë.