Smurfit vows to quit Britain if tax levy is introduced

MULTIMILLIONAIRE paper tycoon Dermot Smurfit is threatening to leave Britain if its government presses ahead with its plans to levy non-domiciled residents £30,000 (€40,000).

Mr Smurfit, who has been based in Britain for more than 20 years and is chairman of packaging company Powerflute, is joining the ranks of top businessmen threatening to leave London if the levy is introduced.

The government plans to introduce the levy in April and it will apply to anyone who has enjoyed “non-dom” status, which means they do not have to pay tax on earnings.

Mr Smurfit told the Daily Telegraph: “If these changes come in I would probably leave the UK. I have five children in England all at private school — I don’t place any burden on the state. I have contributed huge amounts to the country and pay significant taxes, about £150,000 a year. If they bring these changes in, it’s goodbye.”

He said he would relocate to Switzerland or Monaco. His brother, Dr Michael Smurfit, is based in Monte Carlo for tax purposes and is the Irish honorary consul there. The Smurfit family is among the wealthiest in Ireland with an estimated fortune of about €700m.

The British government is cracking down on tax loopholes in the wake of the huge personal profits made by the bosses of private equity firms. The controversy was stoked by comments from Nicholas Ferguson, the head of SVG Capital, who said many in the private equity sector were “paying less tax than a cleaning lady”. Mr Smurfit rejected claims senior business people are not paying their share.

“The UK has been able to attract the best brains in the world. All of a sudden they are throwing this away. Are they doing this for the money or the ideology? It has to be the latter,” he said.

The new levy may be good news for Ireland as changes in the recent Finance Act means anyone based here with income earned overseas will not be taxed.