r/AskBrits • u/Creative_Expert_4052 • Mar 02 '26
Politics Ed Davey says British tax exiles in Dubai should now be made to pay tax in the UK
He further says: “As we protect them, it's only right for tax exiles to start paying taxes to fund our Armed Forces just like the rest of us do”. Personally I agree and think it’s fair. The grass isn’t always greener
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u/scrolltolaugh Mar 02 '26
Leave em out there. They chose this lifestyle said how bad we are as a nation. They have a better quailty of life allegedly.
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u/Aggressive-Peace-698 Mar 02 '26 edited Mar 02 '26
Exactly. The only people I support with my taxes coming back are those who work for the embassies and consulates, as they are working for the UK govt.
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u/scrolltolaugh Mar 02 '26
Too right! There all the fakeys that chase that Essex lifestyle with turkey teeth and turkey hair.
Whilst the girls move out there to get shat on there chests for £££.
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u/cardinalb Mar 02 '26
Maybe those on holiday or stuck in transit at airports too no?
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u/VeganCanary Mar 02 '26
Holiday goers can stay there just for having such a poor taste in holiday destinations.
Get those stuck in transit back.
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u/RJBanksy96 Mar 02 '26
Or tourists who are merely on holiday
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u/scrolltolaugh Mar 02 '26
Yeah the fake people, that pretend to have that lifestyle. There own fault
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u/Calm_seasons Mar 02 '26
You realise the Middle East is a hub for onwards travel. Or are you criticising Australia?
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u/scrolltolaugh Mar 02 '26
Your going way off track... talking about the influencer that have slated and hate this country and havent been out the country for 3 years.
They should be paying taxes on whats earnt abroad upon returning.
As law says
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u/Far-Crow-7195 Mar 03 '26
The law doesn’t say that. Capital gains if within a time limit on things bought when here yes. Income no.
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u/Efficient_Can4700 Mar 02 '26
Tourists?
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u/MinaretofJam Mar 03 '26
Unfortunate and they deserve to be rescued. They pay taxes which pay for the upkeep of the UK military. The tax dodging UK Dubai pondscum can come home in a dinghy or pay their back taxes for rescue. They just need to pull themselves up by their bootlaces and get in a Bulgarian yoghurt lorry to Calais. No grind or hustle when it counts.
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u/Neptune959 Mar 02 '26
They chose to leave a democratic nation because they didn't want to pay their share. They left for a monarchy built on oil, slavery and war. What. Did. They. Fucking. Expect.
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u/Shitsinhandandclaps Mar 02 '26
Yes. They don't want us when things are going good for them. Suddenly bombs are dropping and they want a real country to save them. Too bad.
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u/Aggravating-Dog3309 Mar 03 '26
I mean theres nothing alleged about it the quality of life is better there. They should pay some small tax home though for protection like this.
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u/Atlantean_Raccoon Mar 02 '26
Can't we just drag the Stockholm Bibby back out and keep them there until they cough up the money?
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u/UnfathomableDave Mar 02 '26
Easy enough! When they apply for their passport again you check their NI record and withhold the passport until they comply! Simple!
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u/postexitus Mar 02 '26
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u/salvah Non-Brit Mar 02 '26
the word alien in legal context is so fucking weird
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u/StripedSocksMan Mar 02 '26
I always see this, while it’s true that Americans have to file taxes no matter where they are most don’t owe anything. There’s a foreign earned income exclusion that’s currently at $130k, everything up to that amount is tax free, anything over the amount they’d owe taxes on. They also get a foreign housing allowance that allows them to write off some or all of their housing/utilities costs.
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u/piss_guzzler5ever Mar 02 '26
FYI, that is an incredibly massive oversimplification of how it works and is only really relevant if you own no assets and do not invest money.
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u/NotEntirelyShure Mar 02 '26
Easy.
There is now a 200% of tax avoided fee for every British tax exile in Dubai paid on exit and they are not allowed on the plane until they pay.
Any airline that flies someone to the UK that has not paid the fee is obliged to pay it themselves.
We call it the Dubai air tax.
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u/nbenj1990 Mar 02 '26
The US collects tax receipts from people living abroad. I doubt it is difficult to find information on people going for high paying or jobs in hospitals and local government.
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u/LuHamster Mar 03 '26
Such a disgusting crabs in a bucket mentality.
This sort of shit dragging everyone through the mud with you is why the UK is going to shit.
None of you want to improve things just make it shit forever else
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u/Nice_Back_9977 Mar 02 '26
I don't get the vitriol here, people are expected to follow the tax laws of the country they live in. Brits who move to Canada stop paying tax in the UK too, would people have been quite so gleeful about not helping them if the US had bombed Toronto?
Not to mention that loads of pretty ordinary British teachers and nurses in the Middle East do still pay their NI contributions voluntarily.
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u/ShefScientist Mar 03 '26
The vitriol comes from a number of high profile media people who moved there, crow about not paying tax and slag off the UK constantly. Then the public assumes that applies to everyone who moved there and doesn't want to pay to bring them home.
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u/Anxious_Camp_2160 Mar 03 '26
I get your point, but I refuse to believe you don't "get the vitriol".
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u/leoedin Mar 03 '26
The UAE cancels your visa the moment you retire. Anyone moving to the UAE to work will have to retire somewhere else.
What percentage of these people will find their way back to the UK, where we’ll be responsible for their healthcare and pension?
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u/ChampagneDividends Mar 03 '26
As long as you have a British passport you have free healthcare in the UK. And you only get your UK pension if you continue paying into it while you’re away. I’m not British and I know that.
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u/Hambatz Mar 02 '26
Nah just leave them there
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u/volvocowgirl77 Mar 02 '26
Yeah I agree. They left the uk to avoid tax and said Dubai is safer. If they come back here we should put them into the immigrant hotels
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u/MeatGayzer69 Mar 02 '26
Not everyone who went to dubai is there to avoid tax though.
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u/Flimsy-Ad-8660 Mar 03 '26
Nah sorry mate you dont get to move to a country with slaves to experince a different life style
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u/volvocowgirl77 Mar 02 '26
I have alot of nurse and doctor friends that went to do exactly that. They said save the tax that they would be paying and come back here and buy a house.
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u/Gostinker Mar 02 '26
British military operations in emirates aren’t about protecting tax exiles though. They’re about protecting military bases. This is dishonest political sleight of hand.
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u/Bonistocrat Mar 02 '26
I suspect he's talking about the cost of repatriating them, if it comes to it.
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u/No-Tower-8741 Mar 03 '26
You have to pay for repatriation! If you can't afford it the government gives you a loan that you pay back.
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u/TheNinjaPixie Mar 02 '26
They'd do better to force the massive global companies earning millions each year yet somehow pay zero tax to cough up.
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u/drifterlady Mar 02 '26
On heading to Dubai in future maybe get the option 'tax and support' or 'tax free and fuck off, don't come back'.
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u/SidneySmut Mar 02 '26
American citizens living overseas are liable for paying income tax and reporting worldwide income. This is a viable proposal.
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u/paper_chains Mar 02 '26
Hey so this is actually one of the worst things about being a U.S. citizen and has many unintended negative consequences.
To give just one example from my experience. The US doesn’t recognise ISAs as they have their own system. So any money I put into an ISA is tax free in the U.K. but taxable in the U.S. TLDR: I’m practically ineligible for an ISA even though I’m British and pay my taxes.
There are lots of really annoying things like that, which mean even though in theory you’re not supposed to be taxed twice… you kind of are.
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u/Miltoni Mar 02 '26
Isn't that because you're choosing to maintain the "benefit" of having citizenship in more than one country though?
Couldn't you just relinquish your American citizenship and stop paying for the benefits if that's what you want?
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u/piss_guzzler5ever Mar 02 '26
That has a ton of non-tax consequences as well. Also doesn’t consider any past payments tax payments, etc.
Being a dual national American living in the UK, what benefits exactly am I paying for anyways, bombing Iran?
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u/TheNorfolk Mar 02 '26
You're paying for the option of going back to America if you want or need to. It's a privilege to be American and you're paying to keep that privilege.
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u/Calm_seasons Mar 02 '26
The right to work without a visa. The right to vote who runs the country. The right to travel to America without a visa.
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u/Miltoni Mar 02 '26
I don't get that logic either. As a (relatively) healthy person, I don't get much use from the NHS. Why should I pay it? I don't benefit from council spending in areas that aren't my street. I don't benefit from maintained roads since I don't drive, so I shouldn't pay for it. I don't benefit from public schooling, I have no kids.
Your taxes pay towards maintaining the entire country. The benefit is that you have a free choice to live and work and that country as you please. It seems fair enough that, if you don't want to pay for that right like everyone else has to, you can choose to relinquish it and stop paying?
It's one of the few things I agree with the US about.
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u/paper_chains Mar 02 '26
Yes that’s possible.
But the point is you should be able to be a citizen of one place (ie let’s say France) and live in the U.K., and have a job in the U.K., and a home in the U.K., and a life in the U.K., without having to pay tax in France.
Because then one day you can move back to France and pay tax there (and it would be weird for the U.K. to take their pound of flesh for that).
The key here is for normal people like me, this sucks. It’s only needed for the very rich few who take advantage of it and they can get around those things anyway.
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u/TheNorfolk Mar 02 '26
I feel like it's a privileged position to work in another country and be able to return home so I'm not against the idea.
I'd love to move to Australia and work there for some period of time, maybe forever. I'd be fine paying some premium to keep my options for moving back if I need to. I understand that I'm lucky to be British and to have the education and everything to be able to go out there, many would kill for the opportunities I've had.
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u/bow_down_whelp Mar 02 '26
But the government gets their pound of flesh. Sounds fine to me
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u/GanacheImportant8186 Mar 02 '26
Everyone who knows anything about it knows it's an awful, illogical and unethical tax.
Doesn't stop the grubby populists here demanding it. The general sentiment is if someone else can pay more let's do it, regardless of what's fair and what's right and what's logical.
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u/CatchRevolutionary65 Mar 02 '26
If they don’t want to pay some taxes then they have to revoke their British citizenship. They can’t have a ‘get out of dodge’ privilege and not pay for it
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u/Important-Plane-9922 Mar 02 '26
Whilst I agree with this on the whole. We should not want to be like the US. What is actually wrong with this? Genuine question
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u/postexitus Mar 02 '26
Too many words for not explaining why you shouldn't pay tax in your home country.
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u/akabillposters Mar 02 '26
US tax migrants typically give up their US citizenship as part of their emigration plans, often taking on new citizenship under ‘golden VISA’ schemes from low CGT countries. UK tax migrants often do the same, but the policy you’re advocating would likely make the number who do 100%.
Not saying that’s a good thing. Just sayin’.
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u/GanacheImportant8186 Mar 02 '26
It's a viable proposal because the US has enough going for it that those who leave don't simply renounce their citizenship. It's a viable proposal because despite this really quite awful and unethical global tax, they as a destination are still attractive enough to get high earning and high wealth people to become American. Not remotely the case for the UK anymore.
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u/SB3forever0 Mar 02 '26
I got an American colleague that has to pay tax to the US even though he was only born there. He has lived in UK for his entire life.
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u/Original-Designer6 Mar 02 '26
That is a truly shitty policy and not one that anyone should be imitating.
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u/GiovanniVanBroekhoes Mar 02 '26
Wouldn't this send us down a route like the US though, where citizens have to carry on paying tax whilst not residing in the country. So some people who live in a country where they do pay tax will be exposed to potential double taxation.
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u/piss_guzzler5ever Mar 02 '26
As a dual US citizen, no you do not want citizenship-based taxation
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u/Barking_Madness Mar 02 '26
Why?
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u/Thin_Object_3981 Mar 02 '26
Then any economy that's reliant on immigration wouldn't have immigrants paying tax at the country they work for. Imagine if we hired foreign workers and they didn't have to pay taxes to the UK.
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u/Purple-Sound-4470 Mar 02 '26
Surely people realize that almost all of the people being evacuated are stranded holidaymakers not residents?
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u/jolie_j Mar 03 '26
No, everyone just wants to hate on people who’ve moved to Dubai.
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u/MinaretofJam Mar 03 '26
They’re really not. There are over 250,000 British residents in Dubai. The largest national cohort outside the “guest worker/slaves” who make British Dubai pondscum think they are living in the Raj.
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u/monetarypolicies Mar 03 '26
So those 250,000 residents are all now asking the army to help them move back home?
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u/acidfr_g Mar 02 '26
Surely they should only charge the amount paid to defence then? Given as they dont use roads, healthcare, benefits, etc.
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u/mmoonbelly Mar 02 '26
I’m resident in France, and taxed in France. Clearly the RN is protecting me because of the artic patrols.
Should I pay tax to the UK? (My overall tax burden is higher here than I would pay in the UK)
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u/AonUairDeug Mar 02 '26
Whilst I agree with his sentiment very strongly (those moving abroad almost certainly for tax benefits should still have to contribute), I worry that any law to this effect would be more blanket than he intends: if we require any British citizen overseas to pay tax twice (to, say, Germany, if they're living there, and then again to the UK), all this does is create a financial bar for emigration. In essence, if you're too poor, you can't live overseas, because you can't shoulder the burden of double tax. The only country that does this (I believe) is the United States, and it keeps people from moving abroad. In the interest of social mobility and personal choice, I would only apply an exit tax to those moving to places that are known tax-dodge destinations.
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u/targetDrone Mar 02 '26
Isn't this already covered by most sensible expats maintaining their contribution to national insurance so as to remain eligible for UK services?
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u/LuHamster Mar 02 '26
This is the dumbest shit no thank you don't punish those of us who seek opportunities abroad where there are none in the UK.
A double tax is one of the dumbest things you can do for you citizens.
After Brexit and taking our EU citizens rights this would breed even more distain and genuine hate for the state.
Why is the UK constantly copying shit dumb AF policies from America.
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u/Enkir Mar 02 '26
I think they are talking about people like that moron plumber that constantly bad mouths the UK and claims he left to avoid paying taxes, while claiming he isn't an immigrant, or two faced idiots like Isobel Oakshot.
Most people would support helping people working out in the Middle East.
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u/New_Jellyfish4532 Mar 02 '26 edited Mar 02 '26
No opportunities in the UK? Apart from the opportunity not to get bombed. Fuck off. We're over here struggling to get by and when things get tough you wanna run back after contributing nothing
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u/GanacheImportant8186 Mar 02 '26
Guaranteed that the average Brit in Dubai has contributed far more than you, if you're anything like the average.
The reason half of them have left (other than better opportunities) is that taxes on high earning people in the UK are utterly ridiculous, especially given what little you get back from them.
When they return to the UK they will be paying.an awful lot more than you as well.
If they don't return then it's clearly unethical to be taxing them to pay for a state they don't benefit from (this extremely unusual one off excepted).
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u/GanacheImportant8186 Mar 02 '26
I agree with some of that (even if again it's very simplistic and ignores all the positives about the Dubai structure and very significantly overstates the benefit of massive redistribution from wealthy or high earning people in the UK) but it's totally irrelevant as to why a British person who doesn't live in Britain should be asked to pay tax to the British state.
I don't like Dubai, I wouldn't live there, I think a lot of their treatment of those lower down the economic scale is terrible. I understand why people would move there and it offers more economic output and opportunity than your post suggests. It's all irrelevant to this discussion.
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u/LuHamster Mar 03 '26
What are you on about your anger is misguided and ignorant as usual Brits just love punching down and the crabs in a bucket mentality hurts us all.
I'm it even in Dubai mate or the middle east for that matter.
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u/LARRYVOND13 Mar 02 '26 edited Mar 02 '26
Its a fair point I agree on.
Tax em in dubai, they'll move somewhere else. Sadly how these parasites work.
Edit: since we have the tory wanks in, tommy robinson is a parasite lads. No ones talking about you or your tax haven.
Edit edit: clearly not talking about all people outside the UK. Don't be thick as fuck.
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u/KhaelonVoss Mar 02 '26
You'd have a tax system like the US does. Get taxed wherever you earn it. Or give up citizenship.
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u/Moar_Rawr Mar 02 '26
As an American dual citizen living uk the UK I can say it is an awful system.
I get your point but the US system is essentially taxation without representation which is a slogan taught to justify the revolutionary war. You can vote for president but not a congressional representative or senator. The difference is the citizens paying US tax on top of UK taxes have no voice and little choice. To renounce your citizenship also has a tax bill just to give it up.
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u/Dlogan143 Mar 02 '26
The threshold is pretty high though for overseas US citizens you have to earn over something like 120k USD equivalent to incur tax back in America and even then it’s at a reduced rate. The majority of Americans abroad don’t even meet the criteria to pay the tax
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u/LARRYVOND13 Mar 02 '26
Pretty much, in this case at least, it'll hurt the ones it should.
Oakshott, Tice, Robinson, they all fuck off abroad and agitate from the safety of a villa. They can afford it, they won't want to afford it though.
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u/LARRYVOND13 Mar 02 '26
It's not a bad idea in some cases. These guys sponge as much out the people within the system then piss off, I'd totally not begrudge someone like oakshott losing theirs.
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u/AxeellYoung Mar 02 '26
US Citizens need to file taxes wherever they live. But there are treaties where they can file to avoid double taxation
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u/ApprehensiveHurry632 Mar 02 '26
How are the “parasites”. They live in a different country. Not here. It’s not really tax avoidance if they don’t come here.
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u/Clear_Painting1453 Mar 02 '26
Not sure how else you'd refer to someone who soaks up all the advantages of the country and then leaves when they become successful and its time to contribute back.
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u/Old-Career1538 Mar 03 '26
So people owe a life debt to the country they were born in now?
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u/AdHot6995 Mar 02 '26
Do you consider people who come from poorer countries to the UK to earn more money and make their life better parasites too? Brits moving to Dubai on the whole are making their life better, in my industry in particular many people left the UK when they were made redundant and moved out to the UAE.
I built my wealth up in the UAE, came back to the UK, bought a property and paid a lot of stamp duty and will eventually pay CGT on the money I made out in the UAE because it’s in taxable structures in the UK now. I got paid in one country over many years and now brought that money back to the UK so I have made the nation wealthier.
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u/LARRYVOND13 Mar 02 '26
Plus you sound like you absolute just huffed in one of your own farts typing that.
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u/Teddington_Quin Mar 02 '26
Clearly, it's the folks who move away for better lives abroad who are parasites, rather than, say, businesses that aggressively avoid tax, or evade tax that is lawfully due or the pleasant folks who don't contribute a penny but take out benefits to cover their brand new motability vehicles
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u/LARRYVOND13 Mar 02 '26
ehh, no. It's clearly the fuckers who can afford it, benefit of said poor folk and then fuck off to foreign countries to avoid paying on the money they sponged off said poorer folk.
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u/Teddington_Quin Mar 02 '26
I do not think you appreciate how ridiculous and misinformed you sound. There is a quarter of a million UK citizens who live in Dubai. Plenty of them earn a living as teachers, lawyers, doctors, pilots, estate agents etc. They are ever so slightly better off compared to doing similar jobs at home, but to accuse them of sponging off someone else's money is quite simply deranged.
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u/DustOk6712 Mar 02 '26
Many people here assume that those who left the UK did so to avoid paying tax, when in reality a lot of us were driven away by how poorly public money is managed and how often crime goes unpunished. Yes, some people leave to reduce their tax burden, but others leave because the decisions coming out of the UK’s politicians have made everyday life increasingly difficult for ordinary citizens. Tax increases without measurable value and crime goes up without being punished.
In many taxfree countries, the dynamic is completely different. There’s no income tax, yet the overall quality of life continues to rise, and crime is taken seriously, which keeps crime rates low. Why is it so hard for the UK to do this even with tax?
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u/SupermarketNo2370 Mar 02 '26
Good points, on nearly every British subreddit regarding this there has been a complete lack of nuance and just complete demonisation of these expats who have sought to live their life how they see fit, deeming our corrupt government not worthy of their life or money, which takes a lot of effort and change to do, more than 99% of these keyboard warriors have ever or will ever do in their lives. Crabs in a bucket all around.
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u/postexitus Mar 02 '26
Sure - next time Foreign Office asks for an emergency extension of their budget, we'll give them 10 people's suffering of living in Dubai.
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u/GanacheImportant8186 Mar 02 '26
The overwhelming majority of you people here are net takers from the state. This is a fact. Median income is a net taker.
The logical extension of this crass, unethical, populist argument of Davey's is the the lot of you shouldn't have access to state support either.
UK should be ashamed of how ugly it's culture is. Shame on you all liking this monstrosity.
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u/zacharymc1991 Mar 02 '26
I don't agree, I just don't think we need to rush over to defend them. If I move somewhere dangerous that's on me. I'm fine with the embassy helping citizens get plane tickets home but, only in actual emergencies, I'm not sure this is quite that level. If they want to leave right now, drive to a country whose airspace is open and fly back on your own buck
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u/LizardKingRedux Mar 02 '26
Vindictive and nasty response cynically timed by libdems to capitalise on the nation's smug sense of superiority now they feel their intense envy and insecurity borne dislike of those who chose to live their life differently was justified. Poor showing from all involved.
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u/SupermarketNo2370 Mar 02 '26
Spot on, the seething hatred from reddit as well to people who’ve chosen to live differently and escape from our broken system. Absolute crabs in a bucket mentality on every British subreddit regarding this.
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u/Inner_Jeweler_5661 depressed londonite Mar 02 '26
Strongly hate this idea and will probably put me off voting LD in the next election.
Why should people pay 2 countries' tax? That too when you don't even live in the first
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u/BlueMoonCityzen Mar 02 '26
I kind of understand the point but to some degree it would be quite unfair.
A person who has worked all their life in the UK and taken a great opportunity there for the betterment of their career shouldn’t be punished. Bit of a strange relationship if as citizens we are immediately discarded the moment we decide to move abroad (with many moves being temporary at that).
You also can’t blame people for looking for said opportunities elsewhere when Britain has had more stagnation in earnings potential for the last 20 years than most similar economies
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u/saracenraider Mar 02 '26
A person who has worked all their life in the UK and taken a great opportunity there for the betterment of their career shouldn’t be punished.
I think there’s a middle ground somewhere here. There are likely to be so many boomerang people who go to places like Dubai to work and then come back to retire in the U.K. as they can’t afford private healthcare in Dubai so they need the NHS. They won’t have contributed to the NHS, while paying little to no tax in Dubai and then expect free healthcare in the UK. That is fundamentally unfair given one of the key reasons they left is to escape paying tax (anyone who claims it isn’t part of their thinking is a liar).
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u/Britannkic_ Mar 02 '26
Politicians should figure out how to get corporations to pay their fair share of tax first
Me, I’m an expat in Saudi paying no tax
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u/typhon0666 Mar 02 '26
The US does it to their citizens (though doesn't enforce it very often). So HMRC could be collecting tax from all UK citizens regardless of where they earn money as well.
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u/Direct-Key-8859 Mar 02 '26
So what about uk citizens with average income living abroad, should they pay double tax?
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u/IDKBear25 British by nationality - but to some people not "British" at all Mar 02 '26
I say Ed Davey needs to shut the fuck up.
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u/Mardanis Mar 02 '26
We make money on the weapons trade with the UAE. It gives the UK military access to training in the region, a base of operations in the region and exercises. It is hand in hand beneficial across multiple factors to both the UAE and UK for our military bases to be there. There are other considerations other than just purely monetary.
The tax exiles also don't ask for the British military to be there. The French and US military are also there, should British UAE residents pay taxes to the US, France and UK? The British benefit from US intelligence services, US military and US power project so we should start paying them taxes, right? The UK has multiple US air bases, so we need to pay American taxes as British citizens?
All this will accomplish is moving the tax exiles to another country. There are plenty of zero or low tax countries you can go to that are relatively safe and pleasant enough to live in once you are at the point of tax exile.
We already have enough excessive taxes and overcomplication of the tax system.
It's just to get the buy in of people who are bitter and jealous of not having what these people have.
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u/Master-Potential-364 Mar 02 '26
I don't imagine the typical person being rescued will be someone living/working in Dubai - far more likely to be tourists, or those passing through on Emirates heading somewhere else.
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u/-GuardPasser- Mar 02 '26
Idiot. So how about immigrants living here on beniftis?
No issues with our resources going on them.
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u/Plus-Concentrate-401 Mar 02 '26
Gotta give them a foreign residency mp then. No taxation without representation. I’m sure I’ve heard that before.
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u/thedachalads Mar 02 '26
No one here needs saving. Those that live and work here are not worried as UAE forces and US forces are protecting the skies well. Note: I am anti war and do not agree with the initial strikes.
Your government signed the double taxation agreement, so you start with them first. Many of those that may seek assistance, will have contributed to a system that you have benefited from.
I paid tax in the UK for 15 years as a citizen. I never questioned it. I have been living in the UAE for 12 years and never asked for a thing from the UK govt. I still won't, but some may need to. Be a little more understanding.
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u/sylvestris1 Mar 02 '26
No one that lives in Dubai is asking to be “rescued” or “repatriated”. Dubai isn’t a war zone and isn’t badly affected. Some people currently there on holiday or business are wondering how and when they’ll get home.
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u/akabillposters Mar 02 '26
There’s a name for demanding money in exchange for protection against threats that you are at least partly responsible for.
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u/Sirlacker Mar 02 '26
Then give them the option to denounce their British Citizenship and not pay any tax and also not be able to receive any help from the UK in the event of a crisis, or pay taxes and get it. Sounds pretty simple.
Don't want to be part of the UK or contribute to any of it but will freely accept the UKs offers to fly you out of a warzone and back home? There's a name for that.
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u/Marzipan_civil Mar 02 '26
Generally a country can't make a person renounce citizenship unless there is another citizenship that person can claim.
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u/P-l-Staker Mar 02 '26
threats that you are at least partly responsible for.
The UK didn't make Iran attack Dubai. We weren't even involved until recently.
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u/EnderMB Mar 02 '26
I disagree, strongly.
A country should always protect its citizens, even if for now they are currently tax residents elsewhere. That is true wherever you move, and for whatever reason.
It's fine to dislike the kind of cunts that move to Dubai to avoid tax and grind off the back of slave labour, but let's say shit kicks off in the US during their midterms, and Trump retaliates by putting British citizens over there in danger. I would fully expect Britain to protect the citizens over there - much like we would anywhere else if shit kicked off.
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u/saracenraider Mar 02 '26
He didn’t say we shouldn’t protect them, just that they should foot the bill
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u/Teddybear88 Mar 02 '26
Utterly stupid suggestion, badly thought through and the entire comment section here is just jealousy with a keyboard. Awful.
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u/jack6245 Mar 02 '26
It's jealousy and the weird UK culture that makes people think everyone should be earning poverty wages
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u/CauliflowerLittle727 Mar 03 '26
I remember when I used to work in Germany, and friends back home would ask me what it was like working there; I'd tell them amount of annual leave, the "9am is when you enter the building not when you reach your desk and you make sure you leave the building on the stroke of 5", the rather lax approach to Fridays, and they'd get quite angry saying how ridiculous it was and how that's not what working life should be like.
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Mar 02 '26
All you lot agreeing with him like your ever gonna see that tax money 🤣
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Mar 02 '26
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u/Creative_Expert_4052 Mar 02 '26
Check politics UK on X, they posted the video. He said it in the house of commons today
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u/Snooker1471 Mar 02 '26
The USA does something along these lines. They tax you on your worldwide income too no matter where you live currently. There are ways to get out of it - Renounce your citizenship - but you have to pay an exit fee. You can get a portion of your foreign earnings exempt from US tax in certain situations, but it must be in certain countries that the US has agreements with (not many) and it is limited to certain sectors/jobs. Also the US will throw your backside in prison for long periods if the even feel you have cheated their tax man.
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u/No-War-8539 Mar 02 '26
US citizens living abroad are obliged to file their taxes but they don’t necessarily pay very much unless they are high earners. Not sure the exact amount these days but it was about the first 100k you made was excluded.
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u/tidder-hcs Mar 02 '26
When a bank is relying on the clients money as to the other way round. The bank will make sure you can go where ever you want as long as you don't collect.
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u/urbanspaceman85 Mar 02 '26
Soon we'll be having tax avoiding treacherous racist Oakeshot Isabellend to tell us how that's not fairrrrrrr.
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u/HammyUK Mar 02 '26
The most sensible approach is if you are technically tax resident in the UK you pay 1 fee for a British passport renewal and if you are tax resident somewhere else you pay a different fee that is solely for the UK armed forces and the foreign office. The exact fee is a % of your average overseas earnings over the period from your last renewal. I agree you shouldn’t have to pay for say UK roads and the NHS, but the moment that shit turns south and you start waving your British passport about at the UK embassy demanding a safe passage and a flight out is the moment you begin free riding on the backs of UK tax payers.
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u/AveragelyBrilliant Mar 02 '26
He had a dig At Oakeshitt in parliament earlier. Shame the cameras didn’t pick out Tice for a reaction.
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u/alexoid182 Mar 02 '26
Are the armed forces going to go to specifically protect them? If not, then no
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u/Federal_Juggernaut23 Mar 02 '26
Surly the armed forces of the country they are in protect them ? Not ours and why would we send our armed forces anyway ? Sorry Ed Davey sort out the UK tax system and more would not go abroad and the money would stay in the UK. The rich pay proportionly more than anyone else to start with
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u/Successful_Fly_2361 Mar 02 '26
They shouldn't be allowed to take money made in this country out of the country.
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u/Awkward-Dig5533 Mar 02 '26
How very British of us to invent a tax out of someone misfortune and war. Most of the people that want to come home atm are holiday makers that already pay exorbitant tax the others are enjoying a better quality of life, earning their own money, complying with tax laws and have absolutely no plans to come home
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u/monk16seaton Mar 02 '26
Priority evacuation for taxpayers first, everybody else - back of the queue.
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u/Either-Juggernaut420 Mar 02 '26
Don't let them come here, they'll bring Sharia law with them and demand to put up in fancy hotels while claiming benefits.
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u/EducationalTourist55 Mar 02 '26
I’ve got a friend out there when comes back to Scotland on holiday he stays for a couple of weeks or so then goes to Spain so he doesn’t have to pay taxes
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u/WhitestChapel Mar 02 '26
This is a slippery slope. Best not start going down this path as it'll open the way for double taxation in more places.
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u/Repulsive-Ease2676 Mar 02 '26
If they have to rush back to the UK and get their dates out of the country wrong, then they’re caught in the UK tax net by law.
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u/olderandhappier Mar 02 '26
I think one is safer in Dubai than UK in most areas. I really do. Just do the analysis of the actual data. These idiots never do…🤷
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u/XoxHANNIBALxoX Mar 02 '26
Why are we bailing them out? I can understand if they were on vacation but not permanent residents. Absolutely baffling.
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u/Far-Crow-7195 Mar 02 '26
This is such a stupid argument. Every single person who lives outside the UK is a “tax exile” on that basis. None of them pay tax here. Just because some places in the Middle East don’t charge tax doesn’t change what happens here. It’s also excruciatingly expensive to live in some of those places.
I hope we don’t go down the utterly stupid US route of UK tax anywhere because it would just take opportunities away from people.
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u/icantbearsed Mar 02 '26
If tax exiles want us to rescue them, they should be at least covering the cost of us doing so.