When you’re a British singer who has had a multimillion selling album, served in the British Army as an officer, and become a champion skier who was the best skier in the Royal Armoured Corps, what do you do when the taxes in Britain get too high and the going gets tough?
You do what British singer James Blunt has said he’s going to do: move permanently to Switzerland. When the going gets tough, the tough get going.
Blunt, who has lived in Verbier since 2005 when he bought a chalet there, said, “As soon as the authorities will let me, because I don’t know if I’ve been here a sufficiently long time, I would like to become Swiss.” He added that he “loves skiing and good food.” He must; he is opening a restaurant high up in the mountains of Switzerland called The Cow.
There have been rumors of a tax-scandal with Blunt, rumors that implied he kept his money in an HSBC bank offshore on the Channel Island of Jersey. But Blunt has protested the accusations on Twitter:
I have an account at HSBC Jersey which has always been declared to HMRC, and I pay my taxes. Witch-hunt.
Blunt isn’t the only star with relocation in mind. French actor Gerard Depardieu is plotting his own move, one that will save him plenty in taxes.
More and more of the wealthy set are leaving tax-hungry countries. It won’t be long until President Barack Obama won’t have the 2 percent to tax.
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