Posted on 03/10/2012 6:19:44 PM PST by nickcarraway
JK Rowling, the Harry Potter author, has dropped out of the world's exclusive billionaires' club as a result of Britain's high tax regime, the Forbes magazine rich list disclosed on Wednesday.
Having been feted as one of the world's richest women in 2011, she saw her fortunes depleted to such an extent that she is no longer a dollar billionaire, meaning she has less than £640 million in the bank.
The decline in the spending power of Britain's rich emerged as the global number of billionaires rose to 1,226, and their combined wealth went up to a record $4.6 trillion (£2.9 trillion), despite the impact of the world economic crisis.
Among them are 37 British billionaires, an increase of five since last year, headed by the Duke of Westminster, who is worth $11 billion (£7 billion).
Forbes, which has produced an annual list of billionaires for the past 25 years, said that Miss Rowling's declining fortune was the result of her charitable giving, which had left a significant dent in her bank balance, along with the heavy taxation burden levied on high earners in Britain. Business leaders have warned for some time of the impact of the 50p top rate of tax on entrepreneurship and wealth creation.
Last year Miss Rowling was estimated by Forbes to be worth $1 billion, with the bulk of her money coming from her books and the Harry Potter film franchise.
The magazine said: "New information about Rowlings' estimated $160 million (£101 million) in charitable giving combined with Britain's high tax rates bumped the Harry Potter scribe from our list this year."
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Death (the great equalizer of the Forbes 500 list) comes to great and small...and God edits the list!
Honestly I’ve never heard of her charity giving.
They should be happy she’s “paying her fair share”. She can always crank out another book or three.
“meaning she has less than £640 million in the bank.”
Oh, she’s downright poverty stricken!
She’ll have to cut back on Starbucks.
I guess The Beatles got it right in “The Taxman” - they ended up choosing to get out of Great Britain in order to preserve their assets.
“I guess The Beatles got it right in “The Taxman” - they ended up choosing to get out of Great Britain in order to preserve their assets.”
###
Even in the mid 1960’s, George Harrison had the socialists nailed:
“There’s one for you, nineteen for me,
‘cause I’m the Taxman...”
Well, God save the Queen...
Interesting, that, about the Duke of Westminster.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Grosvenor,_6th_Duke_of_Westminster
Does the UK government think she’s a cash cow?
Rowling might become another tax refugee, like the Beatles, Mick Jagger, Roger Moore, and scores of others. Its a veritable cottage industry in Britain, helping the wealthy find places of refuge from the notorious UK tax system.
Yeah, but at least they have free health care. /sarc
Or, does the UK have a capital (not capital gains, just capital) tax?
But they do, for certain definitions of "free", "health" and "care."
If 5% seems too small,
Be thankful I don’t take it all!
CA....
Good News—Now she will have to pen that 8th Harry Potter Book that as needed to tie up all the lose ends she left. She should be writing more stories—Maybe go into mystery fiction or Adventure—get out of the Hogwarts/wizard stuff and go in a new direction. Maybe she could move to some other place that isn’t tax focused.
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