Labour accuses Sunak family of avoiding tens of millions in taxes

theguardian.com:

Rishi Sunak and his family potentially avoided paying tens of millions of pounds in taxes through his wife’s “non-dom” status while the chancellor imposed tax rises on the public, Labour has said.

The chancellor’s wife, Akshata Murty, gave in to mounting pressure on Friday, announcing she would pay UK taxes as Sunak’s position began to appear increasingly tenuous.

Murty said she understood that many felt her tax arrangements were not “compatible with [her] husband’s job as chancellor”, adding that she appreciated the “British sense of fairness”. She will pay tax on all future worldwide income and for the last tax year, but not on backdated income.

Louise Haigh, the shadow transport secretary, accused Sunak of failing to be transparent about his family’s financial arrangements while raising taxes for millions during a deepening cost of living crisis. Haigh said that while it was “clear” the arrangement was legal, many Britons would be questioning the ethics involved.

“The chancellor has not been transparent. He has come out on a number of occasions to try and muddy the waters around this and to obfuscate,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“It is clear that was legal. I think the question many people will be asking is whether it was ethical and whether it was right that the chancellor of the exchequer, whilst piling on 15 separate tax rises to the British public, was benefiting from a tax scheme that allowed his household to pay significantly less to the tune of potentially tens of millions of pounds less.”

The Guardian estimates that Murty has potentially avoided about £20m in tax because of her status for which she currently pays £30,000 a year.

Under non-dom rules, Murty did not legally have to pay tax in the UK on the