Published
Criticized for several days across the Channel for having saved millions in taxes, Akshata Murty has announced that she will give up a privileged tax status.
Finance Minister Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty, February 9, 2022.
AFP
Akshata Murty, the wife of UK Finance Minister Rishi Sunak, announced on Friday that her overseas earnings would now be taxed in the UK following being heavily criticized for saving millions in taxes thanks to privileged tax status.
The wealthy Akshata Murty said in a statement that she no longer intends to “claim the tax rebate” which she enjoys because of her status as “non dom” (not domiciled), a legal status that dates back to 1799 and which allows her to avoid paying taxes to her majesty’s treasury on her foreign income, even though she lives in London.
This privileged status does not look good in the midst of the purchasing power crisis in the United Kingdom and has fueled the criticisms which were already aimed at her husband, the Minister of Finance Rishi Sunak. Not wishing to be a “distraction” for her husband, Akshata Murty assured that she would now pay taxes in the United Kingdom on the basis of all (her) worldwide income”. “I do it because I want to, not because the regulations require me to,” she said.
Far from reality
A young rising star of the Conservatives who had spent lavishly to help the British during the pandemic, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, still considered a few weeks ago as the favorite to succeed Boris Johnson, has been caught up in soaring prices in the country.
With aid measures deemed far from commensurate with the historic fall in purchasing power suffered by households, the millionaire minister, a 41-year-old eloquent former investment banker, appeared to be insensitive and distant from reality. .
Giving grist to the opposition’s attacks on his lifestyle, the newspaper “The Independent” revealed this week the favorable tax status of his wife, a wealthy Indian, daughter of the billionaire co-founder of the Infosys technology group. Earlier Friday, Rishi Sunak denounced a “smear campaign” coming from the ranks of the Labor opposition. “Dirtying my wife to get at me is awful,” he said in an interview with the tabloid “The Sun.”
Lifestyle
According to estimates by the left-wing daily “The Guardian”, Akshata Murty has received 54.5 million pounds in dividends from Infosys since 2015 and his status would have allowed him to avoid paying 20 million pounds (24 million euros ) to the UK tax authorities.
“My wife was born in India, she was brought up there” and “it would not be reasonable or fair to ask her to cut ties with her country simply because she is married to me”, pleaded Rishi Sunak. Without convincing everyone, many experts point out that status has nothing to do with nationality.
The revelations have gone downhill in a country that is seeing the cost of living soar, with the situation set to worsen following the massive rise in gas and electricity bills on April 1. They shed light, in this difficult context, on the lifestyle of the Sunaks, who own properties both in Yorkshire (northern England), where the minister is elected, and in California.
On Friday, the British newspaper “The Independent” also revealed that the minister was listed among the beneficiaries of trusts in the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands, two tax havens. Enough to feed the criticisms of the opposition on conservatives who would take advantage of the system for their personal convenience, ignoring the rules imposed on others.
(AFP)
