David Sullivan, chairman of West Ham United and one among Britain’s wealthiest people, has criticised the Authorities’s tightening of non-dom tax guidelines, blaming the modifications for driving the super-rich overseas.
Sullivan, who’s the soccer membership’s largest shareholder, has minimize the asking value of his 21,000 sq ft London mansion by £10m to £65m, citing excessive rates of interest and upcoming tax reforms as main elements.
The property, positioned in Marylebone, has been in the marketplace since late 2023. Sullivan instructed Bloomberg: “What the Authorities is doing to the non-doms isn’t very good, and numerous wealthy persons are leaving the nation on account of what they anticipate within the Funds. Three or 4 of my associates have already gone to Monaco or Dubai.”
At 75 years outdated, Sullivan now faces promoting the mansion, which boasts luxurious options like a 12.7 metre swimming pool, sizzling tub, health club, and a sky lounge, at a loss. The businessman, value an estimated £1.1bn, spent round £75m shopping for and renovating the property, which has served because the backdrop for movies like The King’s Speech and Amy Winehouse’s Rehab music video.
The difficulty centres round non-doms—UK residents who maintain tax domiciles elsewhere—who at present profit from not paying native taxes on abroad earnings for as much as 15 years. The federal government, nonetheless, below plans introduced by former chancellor Jeremy Hunt, is about to section out non-dom standing by April 2025. The reforms would restrict new arrivals to a four-year grace interval earlier than full taxation on international earnings kicks in, whereas current non-doms would have a two-year transition interval. The crackdown has raised issues of a big exodus of the rich from the UK.
Sullivan’s frustrations replicate a wider sentiment among the many UK’s super-rich, who’re apprehensive about potential capital positive aspects and inheritance tax hikes within the upcoming Funds. Christian Angermayer, a cryptocurrency billionaire, not too long ago relocated to Switzerland, labelling the Authorities’s non-dom tax crackdown as a “enormous mistake”. Charlie Mullins, Britain’s richest plumber, has additionally listed his £12m London penthouse on the market as he prepares to flee the nation.
Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, is reportedly contemplating diluting the proposed non-dom reforms amid fears that the measures could not generate the anticipated £2.7bn by 2028. Treasury officers are involved that the tax modifications may backfire, triggering a mass departure of rich people from the UK.
Sullivan, who constructed his fortune within the Seventies by means of the grownup leisure trade earlier than increasing into property, soccer, and media, co-owns West Ham United and is joint chairman of the membership. His choice to scale back the value of his mansion displays wider struggles in London’s super-prime property market. In line with Knight Frank, solely 10 properties priced above £30m modified fingers within the yr to July, in comparison with 38 within the earlier yr.