RISHI Sunak is a multi-millionaire with more houses than most people have bedrooms. Akshata Murty, his wife, is a billionaire’s heiress with enough money to make the Queen look a pauper.
Questions of the two’s tax arrangements have come to the fore recently after the news broke that Murty was paying £30,000 a year to keep a “non-domiciled” tax status and avoid paying millions to the Treasury her husband runs.
Living on Downing Street, the literal centre of the UK Government, might seem quite the opposite to not being domiciled in the UK, but what would we little people who pay taxes without attempting to hoard our millions know about that.
The trouble only compounded after it emerged that the Chancellor was listed as a beneficiary of a tax haven trust, and that he and Murty held US green cards while living in No 11.
But, Sky News’s Kay Burley has suggested, is it not “sexist” of us to look into Akshata Murty’s tax arrangements?
The moment came on Monday morning as the SNP’s Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, was appearing on the news broadcast to discuss the scandal around Sunak and his family.
READ MORE: WATCH: Sky News host comes up with ridiculous excuse for parties at No 10
Blackford had said: “Consider everything that we're all facing over these days, the increase in tax that ordinary people are facing, the real pressure that people are under, and yet his wife has used that non-dom status to be able to shelter income.
“I have to say that for the Chancellor. It's not about the rules. It's about a serious lack of judgment.”
The Ross, Skye, and Lochaber MP said Sunak has demonstrated that it is “one rule for them and another rule for the rest of the public that are struggling through this Tory cost of living crisis”.
Responding, host Kay Burley said: “His wife was perfectly entitled to do what she was doing. Is it not just a teeny weeny bit sexist to say that she should have to do what her husband tells her?”
Is it sexist to suggest that the uber-rich shouldn’t avoid paying millions in UK tax due to cynical use of a loophole that’s meant for people who don’t live here?
Blackford didn’t think so. He told Sky News: “No, of course not. It’s not about that … the principle here is the ministerial code makes it clear that the financial interests of your spouse are included in the declarations that you should be making.
“And when you've got the Chancellor of the Exchequer, that's putting pressure on households up and down these islands, and yet his wife is able to declare income outside the United Kingdom, not pay tax on that when she should be paying about £2 million a year.
READ MORE: Ruth Wishart: Avoiding tax isn’t criminal, but Rishi Sunak must realise it is unpalatable
“My message to them today is you should be paying that back tax and let's not forget, even with the declarations that they are now making, that his wife will not be subjected to inheritance tax in the UK.
“Quite frankly, Sunak, and those in the leadership of the Tory party, are treating us all as fools.”
Burley then asked if Blackford had any sympathy with Sunak at all amid suggestions the breaking of the news had been a “political hit job”.
Tough one that. Just how much sympathy are we expected to have for the Chancellor worth a reported £200m who is imposing swingeing cuts and tax rises on the rest of us during a cost of living crisis?
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