UK’s third highest taxpayer ditches UK for Greece amid tax rise fears

The billionaire hedge fund founder Chris Rokos is reportedly moving to Greece amid fears of tax rises in the autumn Budget.

Mr Rokos founded Rokos Capital Management and has an estimated net worth of around £2.6bn. He was ranked third in the Sunday Times Tax List 2026, which reported he paid £330m to the Treasury last year.

The London-born billionaire founded his hedge fund in 2015 and has since expanded it into an investment firm with offices around the world and assets of around $20bn.

But he is expected to be the first high-net worth individual to exit the UK as chancellor John Healey prepares his upcoming spending plan, as first reported by Bloomberg.

Labour has introduced a number of policies targeting the super wealthy, including closing non-dom tax loopholes for overseas trusts and increasing stamp duty for non-UK residents. The agenda has prompted a number of high-net-worth exits, including steel billionaire Lakshmi Mittal.

It comes as EU nations clamour to attract the UK’s billionaires with incentive schemes and tax breaks. Greece has become an appealing option for the super rich after in 2019 it introduced a flat tax of €100,000 per year on global income for foreign high-net-worth individuals who transfer their tax residency to the country. Those foreigners are then required to invest in Greek assets with a minimum value of €500,000.

Italy has also become an attractive option for wealthy foreign business owners after it introduced tax breaks on overseas earnings in return for an annual fee of €100,000.

Andrew Griffith, shadow chancellor of the exchequer, said: “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.

“Whatever your personal finances, wealth creators leaving the UK means fewer opportunities for young people and leaves the rest of us paying more.”

Speaking on Sky News on Tuesday morning, work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden insisted the UK is a “great place to grow business”.

“I don't know the individuals, so I can't comment on his individual decisions, but I believe the UK is a great place to live,” Mr McFadden 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.

“That tradition of creativity and innovation is in our DNA, and it's a great British strength.”

In his first major speech since becoming chancellor on Monday, Mr Healey refused to rule out further tax rises as he warned Britain has been paying a "Truss penalty" since the former prime minister’s disastrous 2022 mini-budget.

He insisted the UK economy was “turning a corner” amid an optimistic forecast, but acknowledged there was a “need to control government spending”.

Asked about potential tax rises, he said: “If I respond to speculation now, that will only fuel more speculation, and it’s quite right.

“And every chancellor would say that’s for the budget, and I’ll set out my plans and the future route for government for this country at that budget.”