The next time you hear American politicians debating the "onerous" tax burden on the wealthiest citizens, consider England in the 1960s when the tax rate on their highest earners skyrocketed to 98%. This forced many of the UK's most creative artists into tax exile. By the time sanity had returned to the British tax code, some of these people had left their native country permanently. The Beatles were among the most notable victims of the tax system but they also suffered from an abundance of bad business deals. Their hip, young manager Brian Epstein is fondly recalled for shepherding the Fab Four throughout their early career but Epstein (who died in 1967) was not the best business manager they could have had. An article in Bloomberg News features an interview with Peter Brown, the 74 year old man who took over managing the Beatles after Epstein's death. Brown reflects on Epstein's shortcomings and the turmoil that followed his death. Turns out Epstein had negotiated ludicrously low royalty deals for the lads from Liverpool that literally saw them making a fraction of a penny on every record sold. It was only due to the sheer number of records sold during the Beatlemania era that they ended up being wealthy in spite of these bad deals. Epstein also foolishly negotiated away the rights to Beatles merchandising for peanuts. Although the Beatles became fabulous wealthy, they always remained haunted by the fact they were cheated out of proper royalties and never even controlled the rights to the records they made. For more click here