Britain’s new tax on bankers’ bonuses threatens London’s position as a global financial center and could trigger an exodus of high-earners overseas, the city’s mayor warned yesterday.
The bonus tax combined with an increase in income tax for top earners had damaged perceptions of the British capital, Mayor Boris Johnson wrote in a letter to Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistar Darling.
“You have made unilateral changes to taxation that risk damaging London’s competitiveness and its status, alongside New York, as the world’s leading financial services centre,” it said.
The mayor said London would become a “less attractive destination for the globe-trotting, highly-skilled business men and women who can contribute greatly to our economy.”
“The government is doing nothing more than fast-tracking the departure of this talent pool out of Britain and into the welcoming arms of our competitors such as New York and Singapore,” Johnson said.
The angry outburst followed Darling’s announcement last month of a 50 percent tax rate on bank employee bonuses above £25,000 pounds (US$40,800) to recoup cash spent rescuing the financial sector. The one-off levy targeted the high-earning British bankers whose excessive risk-taking has been blamed for fueling the global financial crisis and sparking a worldwide recession.
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