However, while the 2025 Budget includes some targeted measures, they appear insufficient to genuinely attract entrepreneurs - particularly when set against the profound impact of previous reforms to capital gains tax and inheritance tax. Elsewhere, the Budget has doubled the eligibility thresholds for Enterprise Management Incentives (EMI) and increased the limits for Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs) and Enterprise Investment Schemes (EIS) to £10-20m for Knowledge Intensive Companies (KICs). Yet despite these advancements, their attractiveness is diluted by other measures, such as the reduction in income tax relief on VCTs from 30% to 20%.
"For wealth creators and entrepreneurs looking either to pass businesses to heirs or to exit after successful ventures, the cumulative burden of these policies can often outweigh the incentives. Ultimately, the Budget is notable more for what it omits than for what it includes, particularly the absence of substantial reforms to the tax and succession landscape that could meaningfully drive national investment.
"Taken together with recently announced increases in capital-based and property-related taxes, and earlier restrictions on pensions and inheritance, the broader direction of taxation for the wealthy in the UK indicates a continuing trend of targeted tax hikes on wealth creators. For globally mobile individuals, this looks less like an invitation to relocate to the UK and more like a signal that the country is increasingly aiming to fund social and investment priorities by relying more heavily on accumulated wealth and asset-derived income.
"This creates a growing disconnect. The UK continues to offer deep markets, a strong rule of law and public-investment-led growth, yet the tax trajectory for the wealthy remains one-way. This is unlikely to halt - and may indeed reinforce - the trend for entrepreneurs and high-net-worth individuals to diversify their residences and establish alternative bases in other jurisdictions, such as the UAE."
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