Alternatively, how about the UK does what they want and you get nothing?
This seems more likely than the wishful thinking displayed by the liberal internationalists in this thread, given the success Theresa May has had in placing Britain in a position of strength. By issuing the threat of making her nation a tax haven, the EU bureaucrats are desperate to meet her demands. It's quite brilliant, really.
I'm sorry, but this is totally delusional.
For a start for the UK to become a serious tax haven they would have cut spending massively. Will this happen? Highly unlikely. Secondly, the EU can easily restrict access to the UK market for banks and individuals post-Brexit, that is in part what the debate about 'passporting' is about (and the EU already has its own tax havens like Liechtenstein, which the UK could never match). The UK is in an extremely weak position and there's no reason to think that the EU will roll over unless you are a deluded Brexiteer.
I saw plenty of concerned European leftists, but European leftists taking something seriously is probably evidence enough that it's delusional nonsense.
What the hell are you talking about?
There is no chance of the UK becoming a serious tax haven - it would have to compete with Liechtenstein for example. It's too big.
In many ways it already is. It is really shoddy in terms of transparency, has a low corporate tax rate, has the whole non-dom farce and the City of London is basically the heart of the international tax avoidance network.
Of course though, like you said, it has way to many spending commitments (you know welfare, universities, schools, the NHS and all that yucky stuff) to match Liechtenstein's tax rates.
I mean, UK public spending is about 43% of GDP. If it wanted to even match Switzerland (which is still not anywhere close to Liechtenstein levels), where public spending is more like 34% of GDP, it would basically have to cut spending by the equivalent of the whole NHS. Imagine how that goes down.
