CBFL Seminar Series: Mobility of individuals and alternative nexuses to establish and allocate taxing rights on income and wealth in an era of international tax competition

On 8 July 2025, the Centre for Banking and Finance Law (CBFL) was pleased to welcome Professor Dr Martin Wenz, Professor of National and International Tax Law, Chair for Business Taxation and the Laws of International and Liechtenstein Taxation, University of Liechtenstein to present his seminar entitled “Mobility of individuals and alternative nexuses to establish and allocate taxing rights on income and wealth in an era of international tax competition.” Professor Wenz was joined by Dr Kasem Zotkaj, Postdoctoral Researcher and Lecturer in International Taxation, University of Liechtenstein. The seminar was moderated by Senior Lecturer Justin Jerzy Tan at the Lee Sheridan Conference Room and saw a healthy crowd of academics and practitioners in attendance.

The session began with a sweeping overview of the global tax landscape and how tax competition globally has led to significant migration to and from various countries. For instance, based on a 2025 report, the United Arab Emirates gained approximately 9,800 millionaires with an increase of US$ 63 billion. Further down the rankings, Singapore gained approximately 1,600 millionaires worth an aggregate of US$ 8.9 billion. On the other hand, the UK lost 16,500 millionaires worth US$ 91.8 billion whereas China lost 7,800 millionaires worth US$ 55.9 billion. This highlights the migratory patterns of Ultra High Net Worth Individuals (UNHWI) in response to international tax competition.

The seminar demonstrated how the increased mobility of UNHWI is facing growing pressure through restrictive tax measures, including exit taxes, alternative nexus rules, and emerging proposals such as the Global Minimum Wealth Tax (GloWT). The proposed GloWT addresses the potential failure in the progressive taxation of income and (unrealized) capital gains and is regarded as a comprehensive backstop and as an alternative to a presumptive income tax or an income tax with a broad notion of income.

Professor Wenz and Dr Zotkaj also made the point that the growing tension between tax sovereignty and equity as well as the various fiscal measures and nexuses to establish and allocate taxing rights on income and wealth of individuals to boost versus curb international tax competition have a significant influence on the future taxation of mobile UNHWIs including their family offices and wealth structures and bear the risk of both another race to the bottom and of growing fiscal restrictions for globally mobile individuals.

The session concluded with a brief Q&A session which shed further light on the emerging and continuing trends in the sphere of global taxation and in particular how UNHWIs would be likely to respond to the shifting landscape of international tax competition.

Professor Wenz’s profile may be found here. Dr Zotkaj’s profile may be found here.