No one can beat Usain Bolt but the tax man has stopped him. Not just the fastest man alive but Rafael Nadal too. Tax charges and competition among entitites can determine where businesses move but apparently also where great athletes run or compete. Bolt loves Great Britain but hadn’t raced there in 3 years. He has a huge Jamaican-British fan base, wants to come back, but not until the onerous taxes change. For the Olypics, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs had to promise all athletes tax amnesty. You see the Brits tax not just your winnings but your sponsorships and all. Rafael Nadal played in Germany instead of England this year for that reason:

The truth is, in the UK you have a big regime for tax, it’s not about the money for playing,” Nadal said last year. “They [HMRC] take from the sponsors, from Babolat, from Nike and from my watches. This is very difficult. I am playing in the UK and losing money. I did a lot more for the last four years, but it is more and more difficult to play in the UK.

Until the UK becomes more competitive, they’ll have to watch Usain Bolt compete from afar. The full story from our friends at the Daily Telegraph here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/tax/9475125/Usain-Bolt-refuses-to-race-in-UK-until-tax-laws-are-changed.html