Britain's Third-Biggest Taxpayer Quits UK for Greece
Britain's Third-Biggest Taxpayer Quits UK for Greece
The News
Hedge fund billionaire Chris Rokos — ranked third on The Sunday Times Tax List 2026 after paying £330m to the UK Treasury last year — is leaving Britain for Greece, the BBC reported Tuesday.
Rokos plans to open an office in Athens, according to reports. The move was first reported by Bloomberg.
It lands seven weeks before Chancellor John Healey's first Budget on Oct. 28, which he has refused to rule out will raise taxes.
The Numbers
Rokos has an estimated net worth of about £2.6bn, according to The Independent. Rokos Capital Management, which he founded in 2015, now runs roughly $20bn in assets with offices around the world.
Greece's draw is arithmetic: a flat €100,000 (£86,000) a year on all overseas income for qualifying foreigners who shift their tax residency, against the £330m he paid in Britain last year.
Timeline
Rokos, London-born and an Oxford mathematics graduate who won a scholarship to Eton from a state primary school, founds Rokos Capital Management.
Greece introduces a flat tax of €100,000 a year on global income for wealthy foreigners who move their tax residency there, on condition they invest at least €500,000 in Greek assets.
Liz Truss's mini-budget blows up UK borrowing costs, a "Truss penalty" Healey says Britain is still paying.
Rokos pledges £190m to Cambridge University, which calls it the largest single donation to a British university in modern times. It funds a school of government bearing his name, due to open this autumn.
In his first major speech as chancellor and in a BBC interview, Healey declines to rule out tax rises, promising only to "balance the books" and "control public spending."
News breaks that Rokos is quitting the UK for Greece. His representatives decline to comment.
Reactions
A UK government spokesman said "the UK remains an attractive destination for talent and investment," adding that the chancellor "has made wealth creation one of his top priorities" and that Britain has "a competitive and stable tax system, deep capital markets, world-class universities and a highly skilled workforce."
Shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith went the other way: "Chris Rokos is Britain's third-highest taxpayer. He has made huge contributions to charities and educational causes across our country. Yet another wealth and job creator leaving Britain is bad news for all of us." He added: "Whatever your personal finances, wealth creators leaving the UK means fewer opportunities for young people and leaves the rest of us paying more."
Work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden told Sky News on Tuesday he could not speak to Rokos's choice but insisted Britain is "a great place to grow business." He said: "This is the greatest, or among the greatest, countries in the world, and that's precisely because we are a great place to build, grow business."
Rokos himself has not explained the decision. It is not publicly known why he is going.
What's Next
Healey delivers his first Budget on Oct. 28. He has refused to say what is in it — "If I respond to speculation now, that will only fuel more speculation" — while rising government borrowing costs squeeze the public finances.
The Independent reports Rokos is expected to be the first high-net-worth individual to exit ahead of that Budget. Whether more follow is the question hanging over the Treasury's revenue math.
More
Rokos is not the first out the door. Labour has closed non-dom tax loopholes for overseas trusts and raised stamp duty for non-UK residents, an agenda The Independent reports has prompted a run of wealthy exits including steel billionaire Lakshmi Mittal.
EU capitals are competing for them. Beyond Greece's €100,000 flat tax, Italy offers tax breaks on overseas earnings for an annual fee of €100,000.
ZeroHedge framed the departure bluntly, saying Rokos "had 330 million reasons to abandon blighty."
Poll
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