High tax rates risk a brain drain from Britain Chairman of Capital Economics Roger Bootle argues in his Telegraph column that high corporation tax rates are deterring investment in the UK while high personal tax rates threaten to drive high earners away from Britain. This is an especial risk for hi-tech businesses such as motorsport. The UK’s fiscal position has been improving and provides the Chancellor with room to share the benefits between a lower deficit and lower tax rates. “I would start by rescinding the planned increase in corporation tax and continuing the favourable treatment of investment,” Bootle says, before conceding that there probably isn’t scope to announce any personal tax cuts, partly due to the need to squeeze inflation. But he hopes that, with some reduction in the deficit, this could come next year, concluding: “Man cannot live by deficit reduction alone.”