Wealth expert Becky Fatemi: Tax the rich, but don’t scare them away from UK

Becky Fatemi, a 50-year-old wealth adviser, shared her insights about taxing the wealthy in the UK during a recent interview. Growing up in a single-parent family in Iran before moving to London as a baby, Fatemi developed her people skills that she later used in her career as a top operator at estate agent Foxtons and her own property firm, Rokstone.

Now working as a partner at Sotheby’s International Realty, she has observed how people spend their money and invest, making her well-positioned to predict how the wealthy might respond to Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s policies.

The Labour government has already made several changes to the tax system, such as eliminating the non-domicile status, increasing employer national insurance contributions, raising capital gains tax, applying VAT to private school fees, and tightening property taxes. More changes are expected, particularly affecting the middle classes and wealthiest individuals.

While Fatemi supports taxing the wealthy to address wealth disparity, she believes that over-taxing them would be counterproductive, as they contribute significantly to the country's infrastructure.

The ultra-wealthy have shown a tendency to leave the UK, especially after the non-domicile status was scrapped. Statistics show a decrease in non-dom taxpayers, with approximately 1,200 leaving the year before the change and an estimated 16,000 millionaires potentially leaving last year. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index indicates that about half of the UK’s billionaire wealth has been lost, with the UAE being the primary destination for many billionaires.

However, Fatemi remains optimistic about the UK's future, suggesting that there is still money flowing into the country, and that the government should be more tax-smart. She emphasizes the need for transparency regarding how wealth entering the UK is taxed, particularly in cases involving companies.