Britain likely to lose nearly one in six millionaires by 2028, report says

Reuters:

ZURICH, July 10 – Britain is likely to lose nearly one in six of its U.S. dollar millionaires by 2028, but their number is set to grow in other countries including the United States and surge in Taiwan, according to a report published on Wednesday.

The UBS Global Wealth Report for 2024 forecast the number of dollar millionaires in Britain would fall by 17% to 2,542,464 in 2028 from 3,061,553 last year. It also forecast a 4% fall in the Netherlands, to 1,179,328 from 1,231,625.

Paul Donovan, Chief Economist of UBS Global Wealth Management, said the shift away from Britain partly reflected the fact that, with the third highest number of millionaires, its figure was currently “disproportionately high.”

“You have obviously seen in the U.K. over the last few years, as you have seen in other countries, implications arising from sanctions against Russia,” he told a press conference.

Donovan said Britain’s decision to scrap its “non-dom” status – which lets wealthy, often foreign residents avoid tax on overseas income – had also had a “small effect.”

“The non-indigenous millionaire population, the global population, which is constantly shifting, will be looking for low tax locations all of the time,” he said, adding this was “not a function of UK policies per se” but reflected the “pull factors” of other countries, pointing to Dubai and Singapore.