Tax exiles should forget Geneva and try Dubai
Posted on 26 May 2009 with no comments from readers
A significant number of highly paid London residents are apparently planning to decamp to Geneva before the new tax year starts next April. These rich folk want to avoid a penal 50 per cent tax rate which reaches almost two-thirds of income when other charges are included.
And yet Geneva is full. High-end property is in short supply as well as apartments for office minions. The schools are not accepting new boys and girls. This is not the late 1970s when Geneva had plenty of space.
Geneva boring
Why choose Geneva? It is by all accounts a quiet town. But there is a good communications hub for the European hotspots, and access to ski resorts. And of course an accommodative tax regime.
But if you don’t like paying tax, why pay any at all? Come to Dubai where there is no inland revenue service.
The infrastructure of Dubai also has its attractions. Emirates is a world-class airline and will transport you in style anywhere in the globe. Dubai has been ranked the world’s fifth shopping destination, and it is always a perfect snow day on the indoor ski-slope.
Quality accommodation for high flyers and their staff is available by the luxury tower, thanks to the recent property boom. For six months of the year you also have access to a world-class beach resort, and for the hotter months there is always the rest of the world.
The urban infrastructure is an architectural marvel and improves by the day as it is finished off. Try an office in the Dubai International Financial Centre, with its growing trading floors, and commute on the new Metro to New Dubai and live by the beach in a luxury condo.
Eastern promise
Swiss mountains and yodeling it can not offer, or the quick flights around Europe. But there are interesting destinations on your doorstep, and the Asian markets of the future are much closer.
However, what every business person who relocates to Dubai loves most is the absence of excessive supervision and taxation. What you earn is what you keep, whether on investments or salary, and there is nobody watching over your shoulder.
And oh, later this year Dubai will have a jet fountain taller than the famous one in Geneva, next to the world’s tallest building.
