Akshata Murthy, wife of British finance minister Rishi Sunak, said on Friday she would stop paying UK tax on her overseas income, subject to pressure her husband had previously denied as political slander.
Public anger over Murthy’s tax situation was exacerbated by the minister’s decision to raise income taxes, at a time when rising inflation forced Britons to pay the highest cost of living since records began in 1956.
Mothi, an Indian national, is entitled to what is called “non-domestic” status in the UK, which is for foreigners who do not consider the British Isles their permanent place of residence. This allowed him to choose to pay UK tax only on income earned locally or transferred to the state.
Murthy is the daughter of a co-founder of Indian IT giant Infosys, and owns 0.9% of the company’s stock – which brought her £11.6m (€13.9m) in profit last year alone.
In a statement on Friday, after two days of negative press coverage, Murthy said he would pay UK tax on his total income, including dividends and capital gains from the 2021/22 tax year.
“I understand and appreciate the British sense of fairness and do not want my tax situation to be a distraction to my husband or affect my family,” she said.
Murthy emphasized that his previous tax agreement was “totally legal” and that he would go on to say his home was in India, not the United Kingdom. Sunak previously stated that he plans to return to India to take care of his parents when they become weaker.
Sunak has been named a successor to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, whose political stance is under question after widespread criticism of illegal parties held in Downing Street, the prime minister’s official residence, during the COVID-19 lockdowns and a. A bunch of other scandals.
After receiving praise for his consistent response to the pandemic, Sunak’s popularity has waned in the face of the challenges he faces on a number of fronts, with the financial burden reaching its highest levels since the 1940s.
On Friday morning, Sunak said in an interview that his wife’s financial investments are separate from his and that questions raised about his father-in-law’s wealth and his wife’s tax status were politically motivated and meant to get to him.
“Attempting to defame me and slander my wife in my face is horrific, isn’t it?” he told the newspaper. the sun.
Non-national status exempts more than 75,000 people, mostly foreigners, from paying taxes in the UK on income earned abroad, and has been the target of campaigns against it in favor of the vast majority of the wealthy.
The opposition Labor Party, which has already called for an end to the law, said Murthy should pay British taxes he had not paid in previous years if his gesture was genuine, and deemed his tax situation unfair.
Boris Johnson said he did not know Akshata Murthy had this status and rejected any suggestion that his office had passed this information on to the press.
“Rishi is doing an exceptional job,” the British prime minister said.
Sunak also confirmed the information published in the newspapers that he only abdicated the throne green card US – Permanent Resident Permit for Aliens – after becoming Treasury Secretary in 2020.
A Sunak spokesperson said the minister paid all of his taxes and did not violate any laws or regulations.
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