Great Britain: Finance Minister Sunak’s wife barely pays taxes herself

Until recently, British Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak was considered the most promising successor to Prime Minister Boris Johnson. But now the conservative politician is under fire for his wife’s tax status.

Akshata Murthy, daughter of an Indian billionaire and partner of Snack confirmed a report in the newspaper.independentIt is “treated as a non-resident for UK tax purposes.” This alleged “non-resident” status allows non-UK residents to avoid tax on foreign income.

For someone like Murthy, who owns shares in the family’s IT empire worth around £690m (€825m), this means a lot of tax savings. The company’s latest reports indicate that the shares earned it £11.6 million in dividends in the last financial year. A 42-year-old has the right to formally claim this tax status. However, it does raise a thorny political question, as Murthy declares that the UK – the country where her husband holds the second most important political office – is not her permanent residence.

Akshata Murthi – Richer than the Queen?

On Friday, Murthy succumbed to mounting public pressure and announced that he would pay future British taxes. She understands that many view their tax regulations as “not related to the job.” [ihres] Murthy said she appreciated the “British sense of fairness” and said she would pay future tax on all income worldwide and for the last tax year, except for retroactive income.

Akshata Murthy grew up in Mumbai, India, and is the daughter of a tech billionaire. She studied Fashion Design and Sales in Los Angeles and later earned a master’s degree from Stanford University, where she also met her future husband, Rishi Sunak. After Stanford, Murthy worked as a marketing director for a Dutch tech fund before founding her own fashion label Akshata Designs in 2007 – which turned out to be a failure. The couple married in India in 2009 and moved to the UK four years later, before Sunak became an MP.

Today, Murthy’s fortune comes from her 0.93 percent stake in Infosys, the tech services empire her father built. Its stock is valued at around £690m – and it is said to be Richer than Queen Elizabeth II.

follower”guardians“She estimates that Murthy has avoided around £20 million in tax due to her tax situation, for which she currently pays £30,000 annually. As a UK tax resident, she would likely have to pay around £4.5 million in tax annually on her estimates 11 By paying £5m in annual dividends, Murthy wants to retain her “non-domestic” status, which could allow her family to legally avoid paying inheritance tax.

The Labor Party accuses the Finance Minister of lack of transparency

For Britain’s Labor Party, the headlines are a blessing from heaven. The SPD is furious that Rishi Sunak may have avoided paying taxes by tens of millions due to his wife’s status, while at the same time, as finance minister, he has imposed tax increases on the public. So I accused Louise HayShadow Transportation Minister Sunak for not being transparent about his family’s finances while he himself has raised taxes for millions amid a deepening cost-of-living crisis.

“The Secretary of the Treasury has not been transparent. He has spoken on a number of occasions to try to muddy the waters on this issue,” Hague said on BBC Radio Today. “Obviously this was legal. I think the question a lot of people will ask is whether it was ethical and correct that the Chancellor of the Exchequer, while piling 15 separate tax increases on the British public, benefited from a system that enabled his family to pay tens of millions less in taxes than the pounds.”

Labor and the Liberal Democrats are now calling for an investigation into whether the finance minister violated the ministerial law because of its lack of transparency. In addition to rumors of green card ownership, the pressure on your age is also heightened by media reports that his Treasury Department increased his Social Security contributions just days before he made his own. New low tax system It is said to have been introduced – apparently intended to benefit some “non-domestic” wealthy investors.

The Treasury Secretary then spoke for himself on Friday, confirming rumors that he held a US Green Card — meaning that he had identified himself as a “permanent US citizen” during his 19 months as Treasury Secretary and a total of six years as a member of Congress for tax purposes” had been issued. According to a source,guardiansIt also appears that Akshata Murthy has the green card, but this would weaken Sunak’s defense, who argued that his wife was claiming “non-dom” status because she was planning to eventually return and live in India.

Low prospects for the British finance minister

Meanwhile, his party is defending the finance minister. Prime Minister Boris Johnson admitted at a news conference on Friday that he had not been informed of Sonak’s wife’s tax status. However, he denied stirring up anti-family sentiment in Downing Street, instead praising the minister for his “remarkable work”.

Conservative MP Kevin Hollenrik also rejected accusations that Murthy’s “non-domestic” situation was “tax evasion” and argued that both the Conservative and Labor governments took advantage of the situation. Speaking on the Today programme, he said: “This is not tax evasion. It is a deliberate policy of attracting wealthy people to the UK from other countries around the world on the grounds that they are creating jobs and creating wealth in the UK, which benefits the UK. Everyone.”

Despite his party’s support, the revelation of his wife’s tax status comes at a very bad time for the finance minister. Due to high inflation, Sunak – who is in fact considered the most promising successor to Prime Minister Johnson – is facing the worst poll numbers of his career. A recent YouGov poll showed that her popularity ratings have fallen by 24 percentage points in the past two weeks. The finance minister must now have tough weeks ahead.

sources: “independent“,”guardians“,”BBC‘, Twitter, with AFP screenshots