Depardieu defects

Through Andy Duncan's blog, I discovered a great article by Jeff Berwick on Gérard Depardieu's 'defection' to Russia. As Andy points out, we're unlikely to hear that word used in the mainstream media, but it seems to fit.

If I had told you twenty years ago that the rich of the West would have to flee to Russia for economic freedom, you might have slapped me for lying.

But that is exactly what is going on today as Western governments get increasingly brazen about their true kleptocratic natures, seeking to “expropriate the expropriators” in order to save their unsustainable welfare (European) and warfare (American) states.

Europe has never been the land of economic freedom, but it wasn't as bad as the Communist states of the USSR which kept roughly 100 percent of their citizens' income, a condition commonly known as slavery. Before the fall of Communism, people were actually risking their lives trying to escape places like Russia and East Germany. Now as Russia moves away from economic slavery toward economic freedom and Western Europe takes giant steps toward communism, the rich of the West are both the first targets—and the first escapees.

What I can't understand is why David Cameron isn't keen to welcome all of these rich refugees. Why not offer a low, flat income tax here in Britain? It wouldn't need to be as low as Russia's (reportedly 13%), because London is still a more attractive destination for most people than Moscow.

We could also abolish corporation tax, so that major corporations use us as their European headquarters instead of Ireland.

At the same time, rich Britons wouldn't waste their time contemplating tax avoidance and emigration.

We could do all of this while remaining in the EU. Indeed, we could exploit the free movement of people and capital to attract the right sort of Europeans to our shores - the kind who wouldn't put any strain on 'resources'.

In short, why aren't we a tax haven?