1. Well run tax havens. (UAE, Singapore, Switzerland)
2. Spacious and stable English speaking countries. (Australia, US, Canada, New Zealand)
3. Easy entry points to the EU. (Portugal, Greece)
4. The Jewish homeland. (Israel)
The Financial Times has an article on how three cities are booming in the post-COVID world:
Millionaire populations dropped by 12 per cent last year in New York, 14 per cent in Hong Kong, and 15 per cent in Moscow. Dubai, Singapore and Miami are deliberately exploiting this migration by opening their doors to capitalists. These global cities rank among the most appealing to millionaire migrants — and make up the top three among luxury property markets where prices are expected to rise fastest this year.
It’s not just the pull of these relatively low tax/regulation cities, it’s also the push of badly run cities elsewhere:
Cracks in New York — high taxes, surging crime, simmering anti-capitalist hostility — are reflected in the flight to no taxes and a warm welcome in Miami. A similar effect is visible in Moscow, where a heavy-handed Kremlin and world reaction to the war in Ukraine are chasing rich Russians out. Instead they are opting for more hospitable options, including Dubai. Meanwhile, regulatory pressure from Beijing is driving tycoons to buy second homes in Singapore.
Other places would also like to attract millionaires, but that’s easier said than done:
Many other countries want to emulate Dubai’s success, including Zimbabwe, which hopes to remake Victoria Falls as a similar hub.
Zimbabwe? I’m not sure if corruption, crime, and hyperinflation is the right combination to attract the global elite.
READER COMMENTS
Ghost
Apr 21 2023 at 4:56am
Atlas Moved
nobody.really
Apr 21 2023 at 2:48pm
What do millionaires prefer? By my count —
9,000 moved to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the US, but
11,800 moved to Greece, Israel, Portugal, Singapore, and the UAE.
This suggests to me that, on balance, millionaires are no gentlemen. Gentlemen prefer blondes.
steve
Apr 21 2023 at 3:33pm
Its usually framed as moving for lower taxes but I didnt think that Greece, Portugal, Switzerland and some of those others have low taxes. Not true? There are a number of sites you can use to compare crime rates in NYC vs Miami and Miami is worse in almost every category so if crime is the issue why are people moving to Miami? I understand that crime in NYC is much more publicized but you would think that if people were moving based upon that concern they would look up the stats.
Steve
Scott Sumner
Apr 21 2023 at 6:34pm
Switzerland has relatively low taxes. I agree about NYC not having a high crime rate.
Jose Pablo
Apr 21 2023 at 9:22pm
Portugal has an interesting tax status for Non Habitual Residents
https://immigrantinvest.com/blog/beneficial-tax-regime-nhr-in-portugal-en/
If I remeber well Madonna moved from London to Lisbon … the scheeme seems to have had some impact on real estate prices in Lisbon
It also has an interesting “golden visa” program if you are a HNWI from outside the EU
https://getgoldenvisa.com/portugal-golden-visa-program#ftoc-benefits-what-are-the-benefits-of-the-portugal-golden-visa
David S
Apr 21 2023 at 6:06pm
Millionaires are adept at setting up tax sheltering schemes so the local tax rate is merely a nuisance for their accountants.
Part of the stability they crave is proximity to other millionaires, which means they’re fine with overpriced real estate and a certain degree of local incompetence in governance (I’m describing Newton and Cambridge, Massachusetts—and Manhattan).
It’s hard to build a millionaire haven from scratch, but some of the Gulf States are trying hard.
Matthias
Apr 22 2023 at 1:39am
Having to set up a tax sheltering scheme is still annoying.
So the rich might be driven less.by direct tax differentials, and perhaps more by differences in amount of effort required to keep their taxes low.
Eg in Singapore taxes are low to start with, so less need to bother with cumbersome tax shelters.
Andrew_FL
Apr 21 2023 at 9:17pm
There will be millionaires in Zimbabwe…millionaires in Zimbabwe dollars that is!
Comments are closed.