I have a three-part series on tax-motivated domestic migration (here, here, and here), but I’ve only written two columns about tax-motivated international migration (here and here).

In the spirit of equality, let’s do Part III for the international side.

I’m motivated to address the issue because of this chart. As you can see, more and more successful taxpayers are moving across national borders (interrupted, for obvious reasons, during the pandemic).

And why are they moving?

The chart comes from a story in the Economist. Here are some excerpts.

…plenty of governments remain eager to take in foreigners with money and skills. And a growing industry of trusted advisers stands ready to help the rich relocate. For these consiglieri, business is booming. Last year more than 140,000 millionaires migrated, the most on record, reckons New World Wealth, a research firm; this year it expects the figure to rise to 165,000. …in Europe, concern about wealth taxes is a prompt. Henley & Partners, a consultancy, publishes an annual list of the top countries millionaires are fleeing from and heading to. Last year France, Germany and Spain appeared for the first time among the countries that repelled more wealthy inhabitants than they attracted. …Many governments are facing pressure to increase the diligence of their citizenship and residency programmes… But plenty of countries will take them—and plenty of advisers are eager to help them choose.

Since France, Germany, and Spain are all moving in the wrong direction, as documented here, here, and here, I’m not surprised rich people are escaping.

And I’ve written in the past about successful taxpayers fleeing the United Kingdom and Norway.

Bad governments respond by imposing exit taxes (very reminiscent of awful regimes like Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union). Sadly, I’m embarrassed to acknowledge, the United States is one of the countries with that approach.

P.S. Trump has proposed a “Golden Visa” that would make the United States more attractive for rich foreigners, but it’s unclear whether it will ever be implemented.

P.P.S. Unsurprisingly, the tax-free bureaucrats at the OECD, as part of their campaign against tax competition, want to restrict economic citizenship programs.