“Move to Italy,” they said. “There will be tax advantages,” they said.

As of Wednesday, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni approved plans to increase the annual tax on foreign income to redirect wealthy expats who benefit from the country’s low tax rates, Bloomberg reported. The initiative was introduced in 2017 to lure wealthy individuals to the region and boost spending. Until recently, wealthy individuals who moved to Italy had to pay an annual fee of 100,000 euros ($123,000) to be exempt from taxes on gifts, inheritances and income earned abroad for up to 15 years. Now that payment will double to 200,000 euros (about $219,000).

“The measure that has caused a lot of excitement is the doubling of the flat tax for billionaires who decide to move their tax residence to Italy,” said Finance Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti on Wednesday during a press conference in Rome.

Since the tax measure was introduced seven years ago, it has led to around 4,000 moves, the portal reported. However, the doubling of the flat-rate tax only applies to those who want to move to Italy in the future, not to those who already have their tax residence there.

“It will definitely reduce the number of people who want to travel to Italy,” Tim Stovold, partner at the auditing firm Moore Kingston Smith, told the Financial TimesLocals, for example, hope that this will bring property prices and the cost of living back to normal.

Major cities such as Rome and Milan experienced a real estate boom in the wake of Brexit. Sales of prime residential properties in the Eternal City rose by 31.4 percent in 2020 – the highest level since 2007. In Milan, on the other hand, HNWIs are responsible for the whopping 43 percent increase in property prices over the past five years.

Other European countries, such as Greece, have similar tax incentives: rich expats benefit from a flat annual tax of €100,000 for 15 years. However, you must have invested at least €500,000. There is currently no income tax in the United Arab Emirates, which is set to reach a record 6,700 millionaires by the end of the year.

“As we said at the G20 and G7 meetings, we are against competing with other countries to create tax havens for people or companies,” Giorgetti told Reuters. “A country like Italy, with its limited fiscal space, can only lose such a competition.”