IR35 is driving a brain drain contractors claim

Ecommerce minister Patricia Hewitt's comments on IR35 this week have got a few silicon.com readers a little hot under the collar.

In an interview with silicon.com, Hewitt said: "Quite honestly the very alarmist talk we were getting - from the Conservatives amongst others - of thousands of skilled IT professionals fleeing the country simply hasn't happened."

But according to Steve Brown, a contractor now working in Finland with five other IR35 escapees, the government is out of touch. "I've heard of plenty of others here too, and Helsinki is hardly likely to be a popular destination because it doesn't foster a contractor culture, nor is it warm and the rate out here is not brilliant either."

And Brown points out its not just his taxes which he no longer pays to the UK government, but also his National Insurance and VAT as well - which he describes as "their loss".

Brown added: "My taxes actually provide me a service now. The rail network here is superb."

silicon.com reader David Hunt has taken refuge in Germany.

"I don't know where the government are getting their figures from but I personally know of some 50 ex-pat contractors working out here who came because of IR35," he said.

But it's not just the tax climate which appears to attracting IT workers. "English is becoming a very common language in the pubs in downtown Frankfurt and Sachsenhausen," Hunt adds.

Another reader said: "I haven't been back since April 2000 and I won't be either," adding "it's much better on the continent anyway, and fags are cheaper too".