OK, here is an absolutely 100% non-ironic Brexit Benefit.
Norway's recent election became a kind of de-facto referendum on the Wealth Tax. Norway is one of the few remaining EU/EFTA countries to still have a wealth tax. They were twelve countries with wealth taxes in 1990, now there are only three. The generally accepted consensus is that they disappeared because they are difficult to administer. I would say the trigger for the wealth tax debate in Norway gives us a more convincing argument as to the real reason wealth taxes are an endangered species now.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/07/wealth-tax-norway-election
In 2022 30 billionaires and multi-millionaires left Norway to avoid the wealth tax which brings us to the EU issue. By moving they essentially transferred the ownership of the companies from Norway to being foreign-owned. And they were able to do this because EU rules insist on the free movement of people and capital. The actual companies stayed exactly where they were. The only thing that moved was the ownership.
The right are crowing about this exodus because it 'proves' the dangers of a wealth tax. To me it shows the dangers of allowing the free movement of capital without alignment on tax policy. Since the EU's inception it has been a race to the bottom in taxation now people are scratching their heads wondering why normal people in the EU are suddenly very poor.
The arguments against wealth tax from a practicality point of view are, imo, bollocks. Determining income is not always easy, mistakes are made, and fraud happens. But we still do it.
Determining the net-worth of a person each year is not an absurd notion. There is a record of ownership for everything.
I've said it elsewhere, but it really feels like wealth tax is a battle that has been lost before it was even started. Even well known figures on the left are arguing against wealth taxes, and they are using the exact same flawed arguments as the right are using.
To me the proof is that if it weren't for the wealth tax there would have been a number of Norwegian billionaires who paid 0 kroner in tax last year. And any country that doesn't have a wealth tax will also have the majority of it's billionaires and multi-millionaires paying little to no tax.
So, Brexit benefit. We are out of the race to the bottom when it comes to wealth taxes.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/nov/17/reeves-should-put-wealth-tax-on-the-budget-table
So, Brexit benefit. We are out of the race to the bottom when it comes to wealth taxes.
Yeah but from what I've seen wealthy people can reside where the f they like, so will still be able to move & avoid wealth tax if they so wish.
True Dickyboy but you can have a system like the US whereby the only way to avoid US taxes is to give up US nationality. Even if I won Euromillions (which I don't do) I wouldn't give up my either of my nationalities or where I live just to save tax. My choice of where to live already means I pay more tax than I would almost anywhere else in the world but the services that tax provides are worth every euro.
To me it shows the dangers of allowing the free movement of capital without alignment on tax policy.
There has been some alignment on tax policy, but not nearly enough. Would there be more, or less, alignment across Europe without the EU? We can only guess... but I suspect we'd all make the same guess. And where does resistance to further alignment come from? EU bodies or the nation states?
Since the EU's inception it has been a race to the bottom in taxation now people are scratching their heads wondering why normal people in the EU are suddenly very poor.
Are you suggesting that hasn't been happening as much outside the EU?
There has been some alignment on tax policy, but not nearly enough. Would there be more, or less, alignment across Europe without the EU? We can only guess... but I suspect we'd all make the same guess. And where does resistance to further alignment come from? EU bodies or the nation states?
Depends on what you mean by alignment. At the moment the EU is fairly well aligned on taxing the uber-wealthy because the rules mean that if you want to tax your wealthiest and they decide they want to take their money elsewhere (whilst leaving the businesses which provide them their wealth exactly where they are) there is nothing anyone can do to stop them. EU countries are almost universally aligned on simply allowing the uber-wealthy to pay little to no tax.
If by alignment you mean a certain minimum level of wealth tax that applied across the EU then resistance to this is largely coming from the uber-wealthy and by extension the politicians and media outlets they own.
Are you suggesting that hasn't been happening as much outside the EU?
No, but with the EU the rules don't allow any restrictions on capital flight, rather than the countries in question simply making the choice to not reduce inequality. Even in the US you can move from state to state for tax reasons, but the only way to avoid federal taxes is to leave the US (and give up your US citizenship). Any race to the bottom is going to be limited because the benefits of switching states is reduced because there is an unavoidable minimum level of taxation.
In this regard, the EU is even worse than the US in terms of being in a race to the bottom in taxation.
In Europe there is more of a cultural acceptance of taxation to reduce inequality but the rules are written in such a way to actively discourage it.
Yeah but from what I've seen wealthy people can reside where the f they like, so will still be able to move & avoid wealth tax if they so wish.
If Norway was not in the EFTA and a billionaire business owner wanted to move, Norway could simply say, 'OK, either sell your Norwegian based businesses or set up a holding company here to own it.'
Then the billionaire would only be paying wealth tax on the assets he or she owned in Norway. And in the case of the billionaires who have moved away to avoid the wealth tax that would be the majority of their wealth anyway.
As it is these Norwegian companies have to effectively become foreign owned because under EU rules you are not allowed to put any kind of restriction on EU residents right to own businesses (with a few exceptions for various industries).
Countries can put restrictions on where ownership of the industries within its borders resides. The narrative has been that billionaires can move their assets as they like. That is not true. Beneath all these assets there has to be a real life thing and that thing has to be located somewhere. And moving actual real life things across borders is never as easy as transferring ownership across borders.
What the EU has to do (and is showing no signs of doing) is figure out a way to stop billionaires avoid paying wealth tax by simply moving to a country that won't tax them. You can do that by putting ownership restrictions in place (which obviously goes against the ideals and current rules of the EU) or you can impose an EU wide wealth tax, collectible by individual countries, so the billionaires have to leave the EU entirely to avoid them. And if they do that we don't have to let them keep ownership of their EU located businesses.
Are you suggesting that outside the EU a company shifting ownership offshore is more difficult? It might be in the USA, I don't know, but when it comes to the UK and any other similar size economy, it looks easy enough. Singapore is doing very well at that game, for example... winning a race to the bottom on taxes to do so. Ireland would be a good example of an EU country playing that race to the bottom game while they could... the "EU" has been fighting against that for decades now.
Anyway, when it comes to an individual's wealth, and them trying to move their personal wealth to avoid tax... time for the UK to have an exit tax. Being out of the EU, we can apply that to people moving to all countries, but while we were inside it could only have been applied to those leaving the EU/EEA. That's a "Brexit Benefit" I suppose... but that all depends on how you see the EU... as one economy/market, or many. And it's still theoretical while we have no exit tax.
Are you suggesting that outside the EU a company shifting ownership offshore without moving the actual functions of the company is more difficult?
It would depend on which particular non-EU country we are talking about, but what we can say for sure is that shifting the location of the ownership outside the EU can't possibly be any easier than inside the EU because the EU rules are that there can be no restrictions on moving the ownership of a business or any other type of asset within the borders of the EU.
Probably the only exception would be Norway's highly controversial 'exit tax' which was brought in because so many of the uber-wealthy left. This is a tax that you have to pay on your net wealth when you move residency away from Norway. It's an option, but more of an option of last resort.
I don't know, but when it comes to the UK and any other similar size economy, it looks easy enough.
You have to ask why it is easy enough. Generally ease of ownership is either a choice on the part of the government or it's the result of treaties or some other obligation.
The world seems to have just accepted that ease of ownership transfer between countries is just how it is. This is not the case and it is always a choice of the government in some way.
So.... it's a "Brexit Benefit" that still only exists in theory, not it practice. Great.
So.... it's a "Brexit Benefit" that still only exists in theory, not it practice. Great.
Yes, all potential benefits are going to have to be enacted in some way, I would imagine.
Wealth tax and the reduced risk of capital flight could have been a good way to introduce the Digital ID, given that a large part of the so called complexity and difficulty of implementing a wealth tax can be massively reduced by using Digital IDs to record ownership.
But Starmer decided to go the other way and use it as yet another opportunity to bash immigrants.
If we are only including benefits that don't require a competent government to implement them then yes, this list is going to stay pretty empty.
A recent big benefit here is that a local well-liked restauranteur who was born abroad but lived here since early childhood, has been denied re-entry after travelling abroad due to his failing to understand what paperwork he needed to complete to establish his right to remain.
The town-centre restaurant is shuttered, Brexiters are of course delighted.
Oh, actually they are not, they are blaming everyone other than themselves for this situation. ****s.
So interestingly, Badenoch has this week; both not attended the launch of the book about "75 Brexit Benefits" , she's also admitted that Brexit has been damaging to the economy. In a speech today she said:
"Adam Smith once said, “There is a lot of ruin in a nation.”
For all that is going wrong now, and let’s be honest has gone wrong in the past, nations can absorb shocks.
The financial crisis, Brexit, Covid.
Countries with strong institutions and productive people do not collapse overnight.
Even foolish policies take time to do real, lasting damage.
A crisis is serious, but it is not fatal unless governments keep repeating the mistakes.
We made mistakes in government, but we have learned from them"
I've pretty much always thought that the only way we'd ever get back into the EU - I doubt there's ever going to be another referendum (I could be wrong though), is when all the main political parties have a manifesto commitment to re-join. This is a couple of baby steps in that direction.
It certainly feels like something is shifting. We always said the shit would have to hit the fan before it would be considered, perhaps that's what's happening?
Or maybe Labour's plan was always to let the inevitable happen and then gradually bring the idea in? It's certainly plausible since we know the EU always had cross party support.
I'd come to this thread specifically to say that a Brexit benefit I'd found was that since I live in the EU, I could use the fact that I don't have non-EU winter sports cover on my travel insurance to get out of going ice skating at a godawful Christmas market when I'm back over the water.
Hopefully Starmer s polling will get so bad that he will start placating us normal people and just do a customs union.
He can always blame Russia
I think the longer they leave it , the less chance you will ever rejoin.
The strategy is you don’t miss what you didn’t have.
Theres another 4 years of Keir/ Labour and then another 5 years of Farage/hung Parliament so nearly a decade (give or take a few years) before there’s an opening for a party willing to float rejoin.
Anyway who’s buying the book to see what the 75 benefits are 🙂
I think the longer they leave it , the less chance you will ever rejoin.
You've not talked to any 20 to 40 year olds recently have you? We won't be allowed back until there's a political consensus and some stability. The choice is currently not ours to make.
Theres another 4 years of Keir/ Labour and then another 5 years of Farage/hung Parliament so nearly a decade (give or take a few years) before there’s an opening for a party willing to float rejoin.
I think we need to factor in Trump/USA announcement on thier foreign policy and approach to Europe. The old 'special relationship' is dead. Toast. In fact, possibly turning aggressive unless we toe someone else's line.
Watch for a slow and awkward re-start to the great European Union project and a pivot away from USA. UK is about to find itself very, very alone I think.
I can imagine someone is lining himself up to be Governor Farage of the 51st state
You've not talked to any 20 to 40 year olds recently have you? We won't be allowed back until there's a political consensus and some stability. The choice is currently not ours to make.
Exactly, as with the lauded (sic) oven ready chicken deal, its what the members of the EU think that really matters.
You've not talked to any 20 to 40 year olds recently have you? We won't be allowed back until there's a political consensus and some stability. The choice is currently not ours to make.
TBH the 20 and 40 year olds I’m surrounded with didn’t leave the EU.
The other members of the EU have the veto, just like we used to have, even if you get a government in that are for rejoin you’ve also got to have the invitation, a lot of stars have to align.
But yes that’s what I was alluding to, I think the people who pushed the vote to leave will be long gone and the people who wished to remain possibly on their way with them 🙁
Although with Russia and the Trump administration there’s no telling what could happen.