The Americans Are Leaving! The Americans Are Leaving!

Yanks have been packing up and leaving the U.K. in record numbers, likely the result of the Kingdom’s planned 50 percent income tax rate. That’s right, Americans and other expats living in the U.K. that make more than $248,000 a year will soon have to hand over half of their earnings to Her Majesty. The flat fleeing also follows the British government telling foreigners who've set up shop for more than seven years in the U.K. that they'll have to make a choice: either dish out 30,000 GBP or relinquish the ability to shield overseas pay from British taxes. Apparently, they’ve taken the third choice: jump ship. And who can blame them? Aside from the tax hike, the U.K., and London especially, has become a dismal (if you work or did work in banking) and extremely expensive city in which to live. Unemployment in the financial sector is worse than it is here in New York, and companies are cutting benefits, including school tuition payments, which has sent enrollment in international student-friendly schools down for the first time in seven years.