Britain’s increasingly onerous tax burden risks forcing companies and jobs overseas, FTSE 100 finance directors have warned.
The government took 56.6% of the gross profits of Britain’s leading companies last year, according to calculations by the Hundred Group of finance directors. This was up from 48.6% in 2008.
Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Ashley Almanza, finance director of BG Group and chairman of the Hundred Group, warned that such uncertainty could be damaging to the economy.
'What this clearly says to us is that all other things being equal the cost competitiveness of the UK will suffer as a result of the rising total tax rate,’ Almanza told the newspaper.
‘Ultimately our competitors in North America, Europe and the Far East will be able to afford the same sort of skills at a lower cost.'