Rich Britons are fleeing the UK to Florida in fear of heavy taxes being introduced under a future Labour government.

The Sunshine State, which has no state income tax, inheritance tax or capital gains tax, has become the latest refuge of the super-rich seeking to avoid high rates elsewhere.

Although the state already has one of the largest populations of British expats in the US, it has experienced a slowdown in immigration from the middle classes leaving the UK since the coronavirus pandemic.

But David Lesperance, a leading international tax and migration adviser, said he had seen a surge in the number of wealthy Britons looking to move to the US amid concerns about wealth taxes under a future Labour government.

Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, has announced she would abolish non-dom status in the UK but has ruled out increases in the top rate of income tax, capital gains tax, or the introduction of property taxes.

However, Mr Lesperance said his high net worth clients believed they would happen anyway and some have already left Britain amid concerns the rules could change almost immediately if Labour wins power in a general election next year.

‘Wealthy worried that Labour is going to get in’

“For the British people domiciled in the UK, they can see that Labour is probably not going to get the money out of the non-doms to pay for the NHS and all the other things they want to spend it on,” he said.

“So they’re gonna have to come to the rich Brits, which means that all of a sudden that wealth tax is going to look pretty good to the new PM and chancellor.”

Mr Lesperance said his clients had told him they were “worried that Labour is going to get in” and that “trade union guys and a whole bunch of Labour supporters are saying that they should do a wealth tax”.

Among the emigration options for rich Britons are Monaco, which has no income tax and only applies inheritance tax to assets in the country, and the Cayman Islands, which do not tax foreigners at all.

Florida has become one of the most popular US states for rich emigrants due to its low taxes, warm climate and quality services.

In the first quarter of this year, 10,000 New Yorkers moved to Florida, while 50,000 relocated there from California in 2022.

Mr Lesperance said British expats are following the lead of wealthy Americans. 

“They’re doing it like Jeff Bezos is doing it,” he said. “They’re not going to move to Washington State or New York. They’re moving to Florida or Texas which have no state tax.”

This week Mr Bezos, the Amazon founder worth £132 billion, announced he was relocating to the so-called “Billionaires’ Bunker” in Indian Creek, off the coast of Miami.

Mixture of financial and lifestyle benefits

The influx of wealthy immigrants has seen demand for expensive property in the state soar.

Ryan Skrzypkowsk, a Mansfield-born estate agent working in Sarasota, Florida, said wealthy Britons are attracted by a mixture of financial and lifestyle benefits.

“From a tax standpoint, not just coming here from the UK, but from the US in general, this is just a fantastic state to be in,” he said. “There’s no state income tax or inheritance tax. It’s just a good state to be in.”

In Palm Beach, a prestigious neighbourhood north of Miami, the sales of properties worth more than $1 million have risen by 30.8 per cent in the last year. Last month, almost half of buyers in the area paid for their houses in cash.

David Beckham, who is now a co-owner of the Inter Miami football club, also has a £17 million penthouse apartment in downtown Miami.

Although the number of super-rich immigrants is on the rise, the state has also seen a decline in the number of middle-class Britons moving from the UK as property prices increased after the pandemic.

Many people who bought properties to rent out on Airbnb have since sold them and moved back to the UK, while around 20 British pubs in the Miami area have closed in the last five years.

Instead, higher-class British restaurants have sprung up to cater to a wealthier clientele. Gordon Ramsay opened a new Hell’s Kitchen restaurant last month in Miami, while Richard Caring, who owns London’s Sexy Fish, opened a new branch in the city last year.