The Labour Party has sent a school (or perhaps a stinginess) of Sunaks to the chancellor’s office following revelations about his wife’s non-dom status.
Sunak’s family has been accused of “sheltering” itself from paying tax in the UK after it emerged his wife holds non-domiciled status.
Akshata Murty, estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of pounds, confirmed the arrangement that means she is not legally entitled to pay tax in Britain on foreign income.
Ms Murty, the fashion-designer daughter of a billionaire who married the Chancellor in 2009, insisted she pays taxes on all UK income and said the set-up is required because she is an Indian citizen. However, experts disputed this.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Labour frontbencher Ed Miliband said: “The issue here that Rishi Sunak needs to answer – and I think we do need to be cautious about people’s spouses being brought into public domain but I think it is a legitimate question – which is, at a time when people are facing incredibly strained finances and Rishi Sunak is raising taxes, he says to pay for public services, we’ve got his immediate family sheltering a large part of their income from UK taxes.
“I think there is a legitimate public question about whether that is the right decision because he’s the guy asking us to pay more in taxes.”
The Labour Party said Sunak has hit Britain with “15 tax rises in just two years” as it staged a photo op outside his office.
“That’s hiking taxes to their highest level in 70 years”, the party said.
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