Mr Monopoly turned up to protest the architects of the ‘millionaire exodus’ propaganda

On Wednesday 13 August, youth activists from Green New Deal Rising descended on the offices of Henley and Partners, the firm at the centre of a scandal surrounding widely reported claims that government tax policy changes led to a ‘millionaire exodus’ in 2024.

Henley and Partners: firm behind the non-dom tax ‘millionaire exodus’ scaremongering

Media reports cited a study by Henley and Partners – which sells golden passports for the super-rich – repeatedly to evidence that tax policy changes, particularly around non-dom status, were causing millionaires to flee the UK in large numbers. Corporate media outlets published more than 30 articles a day – over 10,000 articles in total –  parroting these claims in 2024. It resulted in the government softening the proposed changes.

Under scrutiny however, these claims have fallen apart. Think-tanks and academics have identified a number of methodological inaccuracies. This included evidence suggesting that someone had manually adjusted data in the report. The data also relied heavily on analysing where millionaires said they worked on LinkedIn, rather than official – and more reliable – residency records. The report extrapolated 9,500 millionaire departures based on just 50 LinkedIn profile changes.

Even the report’s own figures show a millionaire migration rate of just 0.31%. This means more than 99% of millionaires stayed put despite claims of an exodus. Rates of migration in countries which already levy a wealth tax – Norway, Sweden, and Denmark – are negligible, at 0.01%.

Protesting the architects of architects of the capital flight myth

Protestors gathered outside Henley and Partners’ central London office holding signs reading:

Henley and Partners: Architects of the Capital Flight Myth” and “0.31% is NOT an exodus.

Henley and Partners has also been embroiled in a number of other scandals. This includes links to disgraced company Cambridge Analytica, and election meddling in the Caribbean. Some protesters made sure to highlight this:

One campaigner dressed as Mr Monopoly stood at the centre of the group holding a sign thanking Henley and Partners for “fudging the numbers”:

Tax the rich: make them ‘PAY UP’

Joe, an organiser with Green New Deal Rising’s South East London team, said:

Our NHS, schools, and public services are crumbling. 1 in 3 kids are growing up in poverty. Meanwhile, the wealth of the very richest has exploded over the last 30 years – so much of our country’s wealth is being hoarded in the hands of a tiny minority. It’s clear we need to properly tax this wealth to invest in our struggling economy and communities. And yet, every time this is proposed, we hear the same tired myth: that the rich will leave.

We now know that firms hired by the super-rich to protect their wealth, like Henley and Partners, have fabricated the data behind these scare stories to try and stop our government taxing their clients fairly, helped along by the billionaire-owned media. But the real evidence is clear: wealth taxes work and, when they are levied, the richest and their assets overwhelmingly stay put. It’s time we stopped letting shadowy consultancies like Henley & Partners use bogus data to block the solutions our country urgently needs.

Calls for a wealth tax have been growing in recent months. These have come from Nobel prize winning economists, former Labour leader Lord Kinnock, unions, former shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds, national newspaper editorial boards, and more.

Green New Deal Rising organised the action as part of its PAY UP campaign. It is calling on the government to levy wealth taxes on the super rich at the upcoming budget. These taxes, the group says, could unlock tens of billions for public investment and offer an alternative to cuts.

Featured image and additional images supplied