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Read this in tandem with its sister article: Let them leave – but make them pay!

Another day, another billionaire warning that if the UK dares to tax their wealth, they’ll leave—and take their riches with them.

I say: go on, then. But don’t expect to keep all the benefits of British citizenship—or access to our markets—if you’re not willing to pay your fair share to the society that made your fortune possible.

When the mega-rich threaten to “leave”, they’re not talking about disappearing from our lives entirely.

They’ll still want to own property here, run businesses here, enjoy legal protections and political influence here.

What they don’t want is to contribute to the cost of any of it.

It’s classic parasitism.

They want the services, security, and infrastructure that taxes provide—largely funded by working people—without doing their part.

It’s tempting, in moments like this, to suggest something extreme: revoke their citizenship.

After all, if they don’t support the society they benefit from, why should they carry its passport?

In practice, that isn’t legally feasible.

International law prevents governments from making people stateless, and citizenship shouldn’t be withheld as a political punishment.

But here’s what is feasible—and urgently needed:

We can tighten the rules so that wealth linked to the UK can’t simply vanish abroad. If a billionaire made their money here, lives off UK assets, or trades in UK markets, they should pay UK tax. Simple.

The United States already does this: US citizens pay tax wherever they live.

We could follow suit with a residency-plus system, taxing people based on their ongoing economic ties to the country—not just where they lay their head at night.

We could also introduce an “exit tax” for those who want to take their fortunes and run, forcing them to settle up before they go.

And we can go further: No tax, no access. We could bar tax avoiders from public contracts, from UK financial markets, even from purchasing UK property. If you’re not putting anything in, why should you keep taking out?

So…

Why isn’t any of this happening?

Because the real obstacle to taxing the rich isn’t legal or economic—it’s political.

Too many of those in government are more interested in protecting the wealthy than holding them accountable.

Sometimes it’s because the rich are their friends, donors, or future employers.

Sometimes it’s cowardice.

But more often, it’s complicity.

Look at Labour’s leadership.

Despite overwhelming public support for wealth taxes, they won’t commit.

Not because they can’t make it work—but because they’re scared to upset the same people they hope will one day fund them, flatter them, or find them a cushy job once politics is over.

They’ll call it realism.

But we can see what it really is.

Tom Soper from Greater Malvern put it perfectly in a letter to the i newspaper this week:

“They go with our blessing… When will people realise that it is the rich and ultra-rich that conspire to make us poor – and that their disgraceful reaction when they are even threatened with higher taxation only proves how shallow their morals are?”

That’s not radical.

That’s common sense.

That’s the national mood.

We’re told we can’t afford better housing, schools, transport or care. But we can.

The money’s there. It’s just being hoarded, hidden, and shielded by a political class too timid—or too compromised—to confront it.

We may not be able to cancel billionaires’ passports.

But we can stop pretending they’re the backbone of Britain.

If they want to abandon their responsibilities, let them.

Just don’t let them keep bleeding the rest of us dry after the door has closed behind them.

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