Becoming a Tax Haven Is Harder Than It Looks

As Britain plans its way out of the European Union, politicians have been looking for ways for the country to maintain its dominance as a center for global capital. One idea: turning the post-Brexit U.K. into a tax haven.

In the frenzied days after the June 23 vote to leave the EU, outgoing Prime Minister David Cameron’s cabinet called for cutting the top corporate tax rate to 15 percent from 20 percent. Cameron’s successor, Theresa May, hasn’t embraced that proposal since taking office on July 13. But with some pro-Brexit members of Parliament calling for the corporate tax to be scrapped altogether, many economists expect the idea to be revisited, at the very least as a bargaining chip to win more favorable terms from the EU.