Chris Rokos: UK's third-biggest taxpayer to leave for Greece

A hedge-fund billionaire and one of the UK's richest taxpayers has decided to leave the UK for Greece, the BBC understands.

Rokos was ranked third in The Sunday Times list of Britain's top taxpayers, having paid £330m last year, and in March said he would donate £190m to Cambridge University.

"The chancellor has made wealth creation one of his top priorities," the spokesperson said, adding that the UK has "a competitive and stable tax system, deep capital markets, world-class universities and a highly skilled workforce".

They allow foreigners who meet certain criteria to pay a flat yearly tax of €100,000 (£86,000) on all overseas income.

Chancellor calls for 'confidence about Britain' despite 'historic high' borrowing costsPublished7 September

British billionaire to donate £190m to Cambridge UniversityPublished31 March

Dan Neidle, the founder of the think tank Tax Policy Associates, told the BBC's Today programme that the £330m in tax revenue the UK could lose was "quite a lot of money".

"He will probably pay almost nothing in Greece, and we can't compete with that," he added.

He said the Treasury has some estimates on the number of wealthy people leaving, but otherwise there are few facts about the true scale of the revenue loss.

He said the government needed to "give certainty" to ultra-wealthy people living in the UK, arguing that lots of changes to the non-dom regime in a short space of time and reports of a possible wealth tax don't help.

Rokos's decision comes ahead of UK Chancellor John Healey's first Budget on 28 October.

He refused to comment on any decisions about tax, promising only to "balance the books" and "control public spending".