What is living in a tax haven actually like — and is it worth it?

What is living in a tax haven actually like — and is it worth it?

In recent months, there’s been a lot of noise about rich Norwegians fleeing the country as the centre-left government’s wealth tax rises kick in. According to the newspaper Dagens Naeringsliv, more wealthy people left Norway in 2022 than in the preceding 13 years. Notable are businessman Kjell Inge Røkke, once Norway’s richest person, and Fredrik Haga, co-founder of the cryptocurrency data business Dune. Both have gone to Switzerland.

Of course, the rich have long decamped to more tax-efficient climes. Celebrated tax exiles range from playwright Noël Coward to actors Sean Connery and Gérard Depardieu. Guy Hands, the financier, moved to the Channel Island of Guernsey, retail tycoon Philip Green spends a lot of time in Monaco, and Richard Branson is resident on Necker (which he owns) in the British Virgin Islands.

Leaving aside the ethics of this — and the arguments over whether wealth flight means tax rises actually reduce overall receipts — the question I find myself asking is: What is living in a tax haven actually like? Is it worth it? And which tax haven is best? The last of these is a tougher question than it might seem. Tax haven rankings (whether pejorative or positive) tend to score jurisdictions