Guy Hands, the owner of a private equity group that bought struggling music label EMI in 2007, is to move out of the UK to escape the 50p tax that is to target those who earn £150,000 or more.

Artists on EMI labels include Lily Allen, The Beatles, Beastie Boys, Coldplay, Depeche Mode, Doves, Gorillaz, Iron Maiden, Norah Jones, Massive Attack, Kylie Minogue, Katy Perry, Pink Floyd, Queen, Sir Simon Rattle, 30 Seconds To Mars, KT Tunstall, Keith Urban and Robbie Williams

This development could confirm beliefs that the new tax rate will drive entrepreneurs and high earners from investing and doing business in Britain, according to the Guardian.

Earlier in the week a number of other top earners threatened to leave the UK for the same reasons. Hugh Osmond, boss of insurance company Pearl, and Peter Hargreaves at Hargreaves Landsown, a broker, said that they would be moving to places such as Switzerland and Monaco. At the weekend, the head of hedge fund Odey Asset Management, Crispin Odey, announced to the Sunday Times that he is also tempted to leave the UK.

But Brendan Barber, the general secretary of the Trades Union Congress said that the government should not take the announcements seriously. He said: ‘The 50p rate is extremely modest, and the government should ignore the threats and call their bluff’.