Remember this front page from the Sun Newspaper?

Well following Darling’s ‘class war’ budget, the finest entrepreneurs are now asking themselves the question:  should I stay or should I go?  Is it time to flee Britain?

Who will benefit?  The USA, Canada and Australia will certainly benefit from an increase in British wealth creators taking their talent elsewhere.

Why oh why, does Labour have to revert to it’s socialist principles and introduce punitive tax rates?  Let’s not kid ourselves, this was politically motivated to appease the Labour heartlands.  But the mentality to punish achievers is so unforgivable.  Who is it that takes the risks and sets up new business ventures, that creates jobs, that creates money in people’s pockets.  Bang on….its the entrepreneurs.   Where is the incentive in paying 50% of your earnings, (yes over £150,000), plus 13.2% for NI.  That means that 63% of earnings are stolen by the taxpayer.

But more than that.  The leading independent tax experts, the Institute for Fiscal studies, issued a critique of the budget saying that whilst the Government forecast that the tax rise would raise in excess of £7bn a year, they did not account the tax revenue that would be lost if the wealthy reclassify their money from income into coporate profit or capital gains, or simply choose to spend less or of course move abroad.  The IFS even raised the possibility of the Treasury losing money. 

Labour would class this as spin and that entrepreneurs would stay put.  But already people like Richard Branson, a man who deserves respect for building an empire from nothing, has spoken out against such punitive taxes.  Arsene Wenger, manager of Arsenal, has stated that it will be harder to attract the best footballers, as they look at our tax rates with disgust.

To get out of a recession, the wealth creators, the entrepreneurs, need to be incentivised to take risks and help start the economy pumping again.  But maybe Labour realise that they have lost the election already and leaving the Tories with the worst inheritance possible, so they can look to position themselves for the election after next, as the Conservatives take the difficult unpopular decisions necessary to repay debt and take the economy into a position of strength.  But surely Brown is not that cynical is he?