Like partners stuck in a tired marriage, businesses are looking at the road ahead and questioning whether it’s worth the bother.

KPMG has polled 57 large companies and found that more than half had considered or were considering moving out of the UK. The poll also found that four out of the 20 FTSE 100 companies surveyed were considering leaving.

Even if there is a big difference between “considering” leaving and actually following through, it’s hardly a ringing endorsement of the UK’s attractiveness. Fading beauty and higher maintenance bills are competing with younger, prettier competition elsewhere.

The reasons for this sentiment among the UK’s largest companies – tax.

From KPMG’s report:

The 50 percent rate has damaged the UK’s attractiveness
The new 50 percent rate on income above £150,000 due to come into effect on 6 April next year has proved very unpopular.  Over eight out of ten respondents (82 percent) said it had made the UK less attractive and would make it harder to attract senior talent to the UK.

A quarter of those saying they had considered or were actively considering leaving said that the 50 percent rate of income tax was the main reason or one of the reasons behind their views on whether their companies would remain UK resident.

And they probably had this comment on an unpublished Treasury paper in mind. From the FT :

“The unpublished Treasury paper draws on studies by the International Monetary Fund and the Organisation for Economic -Co-operation and Development of more than 70 “fiscal consolidations” across 20 countries since 1974. Only 14 or so are “successful” in producing a rapid, sustained improvement in government finances…. The paper marshals evidence to conclude that, when fiscal problems are tackled, 80 per cent of the gap is closed by expenditure cuts, with only 20 per cent or less being met by tax rises…. A person who has seen the report said it concluded that “ambitious and comprehensive reform packages” introduced in a “single stroke” produced better results than timid ones based on tax rises. This makes the effort more credible and demonstrates that the sacrifices are shared.”