Fred Done, founder of the Betfred betting empire and identified as the UK’s biggest taxpayer, has said he would no longer want to be born in the United Kingdom. In an interview with the Financial Times, he criticized both the tax treatment of wealthy individuals and the rules governing the gambling industry.
According to the Sunday Times Rich List, the combined fortune of Fred Done and his brother Peter stands at £3.61 billion (€4.2 billion). The 83-year-old businessman said he is now too old to leave the country himself, but would not try to stop his children from moving to jurisdictions with lighter tax regimes.
Done said his family paid £400 million (€466.4 million) in tax last year. In his view, the repeated push to impose a heavier burden on the wealthy is reaching a point where business owners begin considering moving both capital and residence elsewhere.
Concerns about capital flight from Britain intensified after the country scrapped the non-dom regime last year, which had exempted foreign income from taxation. The report notes that Chris Rokos, founder of hedge fund Rokos Capital Management and ranked third among Britain’s biggest taxpayers, has moved to Greece. Steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal and Egypt’s richest man Nassef Sawiris have also left the country.
Against that backdrop, Chancellor John Healey is planning to raise the tax on gaming machines. Done, who topped this year’s Sunday Times ranking of the largest taxpayers together with his brother, warned that if the rate is increased from 20% to 40%, Betfred would have to close 495 of its 1094 betting outlets.
He said that would result in 2575 job losses and a £67 million (€78.1 million) drop in tax receipts for the state budget.
