Dear subscriber, 

I hope you are well. 

Today the Sunday Times published its annual Rich List, which this year has a particularly interesting twist in that many of the people listed are now having their businesses supported by the tax payer. 

The Sunday Times has identified 20 billionaires whose businesses are receiving government support, including 5 of the top 10. 

One of the more controversial is plastics magnate Sir Jim Ratcliffe. 

This week it emerged that Petroineos, which is co-owned by Ratcliffe's Ineos, has requested up to £500 million from the government. 

Petroineos is not the only Ratcliffe enterprise seeking government cash. A luxury hotels group owned by the billionaire has also furloughed staff. 

Ratcliffe is worth £12.15bn according to this year's Rich List. In 2018 the Guardian reported that Sir Jim moved to Monaco to save on income tax. 

Tax exiles benefiting from coronavirus support was the subject of a TaxWatch report we covered in last week's newsletter. 

Following on from this, I published an opinion piece in the New Statesman which I explained how a few simple measures could be implemented to ensure that tax exiles pay tax on the profits of their UK companies.

You can read the piece in full here

The coronavirus epidemic is shining a light on the behaviour of businesses. You can share any information you have about bailouts at our website.

Photo credit: Grangemouth by Graeme Maclean on Flickr