00:00Are the super-rich leaving their countries because of higher taxes?
00:03Some countries fear that the wealthy could leave in record numbers.
00:08For example, the UK's Labour government has recently weakened tax reforms as a response.
00:14But such an exodus does not exist, says British advocacy group Tax Justice Network.
00:19They published a study about global movements of millionaires.
00:22Our new research shows that this widely reported millionaire exodus is a complete fiction.
00:28But what our research shows is these record numbers represent just 0.2% of millionaires.
00:36Some research linking wealth taxes to an exodus of high net worth individuals is connected to a think tank founded by car and oil industry giants.
00:45Firms that specialize in investment migration also profit from the wealth exodus claims.
00:50So these claims are based on a report that's published by Hanley & Partners who sell golden passports to the super-rich.
00:58Golden passports or visas are citizenship-by-investment programs that encourage wealthy foreigners to park their money in return for residency or citizenship.
01:10These cash-for-citizenship schemes can be highly lucrative for countries.
01:14More than half of the Caribbean island nation of Dominica's government revenue came from selling citizenships.
01:20Trump's gold card visa, offering residency and a path to U.S. citizenship, is also aimed at the rich.
01:27In Europe, Malta's fast-track naturalization scheme for foreign investors violates EU law, the bloc's top court recently ruled.
01:35It was the EU's last golden passport program, one facilitated by investment migration firm Henley & Partners.
01:44Following the ruling, the European Commission said these schemes could pose risks to security, money laundering, tax evasion and corruption.
