Rishi's wife does not pay tax (millions!!) on dividends!

[FlowerArranger]

From today's Guardian :

Rishi Sunak’s multi-millionaire wife claims non-domicile status, it has emerged, which allows her to save millions of pounds in tax on dividends collected from her family’s IT business empire.

Akshata Murthy, who receives about £11.5m in annual dividends from her stake in the Indian IT services company Infosys, declares non-dom status, a scheme that allows people to avoid tax on foreign earnings.

www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/apr/06/rishi-sunaks-wife-claims-non-domicile-status?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Anyone as outraged by this as I am? I mean what the actual fuck?

@pomegranatejuice

Let’s be clear, she earned zilch. She did not work for it at all. To me that makes it all the more immoraL

Why do we let ourselves be hoodwinked when people call money derived from dividends and shares ‘earnings’; they are patently not earned in any sense of the word.

Not sure thata accurate. The vast majority of people I know, who get dividends actually work for the company. The shares are part of their renumeration package. Their money is definitely earned and related to the performance of the company. Many times they are the owners of the companies. All these people contribute to the business.

Wages are nor the only way you have worked for your money.

No idea if that applies to this case, but to say people dont work for their dividends, or they arenr 'earned' as a blanket statment, imo, is incorrect.

@pomegranatejuice

Let’s be clear, she earned zilch. She did not work for it at all. To me that makes it all the more immoraL

Why do we let ourselves be hoodwinked when people call money derived from dividends and shares ‘earnings’; they are patently not earned in any sense of the word.

@pomegranatejuice

Don’t act like a dim wit! Infosys is ww recognised IT business. It has 229K employees .

Do educate yourself before slagging others
www.infosys.com/about/history.html

Meh, loads of people claim the remittance basis. As she is domiciled in India hopefully she has structured her wills in the most tax efficient way too.

People undertake tax planning all the time, flexi benefits, upping pension payments, nominating beneficiaries for life insurance, ISAs etc etc.,

Some of the comments on this thread really make me sick. WHAT is wrong with you people? Don't you realise that this man who can afford cashmere hoodies at £450 a throw does not give a damn about the poor? Or are you all too coddled and smug to understand that? I really despair of the nil political understanding/concern in this country. Him and his wife got a GREEN card for the US. Are you all OK with that too?

Can someone explain something to me please. We get outraged when someone owns a company in another country and pays tax on the profits in that country but not in this country.. On the other hand, an American company such as Starbucks, pays tax on its profits here in another country and we get outraged about that. Surely we can't have it both ways.

@intwrferingma

Those thousands of people aren't the Chancellor of the Exchequer, making the rules for the rest of us. No silver spoon? I'm not sure what the definition is these days but schooling at Winchester College surely counts as some kind of a leg up? Ms Murthy's wealth is unearned (by her). And the sums are jaw-dropping.

@intwrferingma

You can’t be more wrong. Read how he got in. I send my only kid to private doesn't mean I’m minted. Forever rented only recently bought a semi. No expensive holidays or meal out, no hobbies. But looks like if my child does well in life and god forbid gets in politics she’ll be punished for life.

Apart from anything else I find it very heartening the amount of people who are willing to go out of a limb to defend a literal billionaire. Most people are one or two paychecks or assets closer to being on the bones of their arse than achieving billionaire status but alas.

Mr Sunak also a 100% slime ball, the type that secures levelling up finding for his own constituency when it's one of the country's richest. Not a nice guy at all so don't be fooled by all the innocent stuff.

So Richmond deserves funding but Hull doesn't? Yeah, sure. Scumbag.

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/rishi-sunak-richmondshireukk_603fd1a4c5b6d7794ae3a599

@j712adrian

Mr Sunak also a 100% slime ball, the type that secures levelling up finding for his own constituency when it's one of the country's richest. Not a nice guy at all so don't be fooled by all the innocent stuff.

So Richmond deserves funding but Hull doesn't? Yeah, sure. Scumbag.

[[https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/rishi-sunak-richmondshire]]ukk_603fd1a4c5b6d7794ae3a599

A quick google gives me this article dated March 2022:

www.hullccnews.co.uk/02/03/2022/huge-investment-boost-for-hull-city-centre-with-launch-of-new-7-5m-levelling-up-fund-grant-scheme/

This is just the tip of a very large iceberg. We only know because of who she is. No wonder wealthy folk want the Tories in. The whole system should be overhauled. We were told if the bankers were penalised for the financial crash they would up and leave- good riddance.
I don’t think she does anything special for the vast wealth, just pays people to look for loop holes ordinary folk can’t use.

@Sallybates

This is just the tip of a very large iceberg. We only know because of who she is. No wonder wealthy folk want the Tories in. The whole system should be overhauled. We were told if the bankers were penalised for the financial crash they would up and leave- good riddance. I don’t think she does anything special for the vast wealth, just pays people to look for loop holes ordinary folk can’t use.

good riddance I agree - why the fuck do we keep bowing down to these fuckers? They are nothing special.

Agree this is the tip of a large iceberg. Non doms have stuck millions in to party coffers over the years.

They've been many discussions as to whether the legislation should be changed going right back to John Major. Legend has it he changed his mind after talking to shipping non doms.

However the new Elections Bill actually makes it easier for them to vote in the UK and to donate. There is no cap on what they can donate.

Why would non doms bank roll political parties?

They've been many discussions as to whether the legislation should be changed going right back to John Major. Legend has it he changed his mind after talking to shipping non doms.

Both parties have promised this in their election manifesto pledges at one time or another, not a single one has implemented it.

That was my point. You'll have noted I didn't single out the conservatives- although in 2015 it was estimated the conservatives had received 18 million from non doms over the years. Labour was estimated to have received 8 million.
If there are more up to date data I'd be interested to read it.

Still begs the question why are donations being made by non doms.

j712adrian

Your link says;
Treasury sources said Sunak had no sight of the specific areas that would be deemed high priority for the levelling up fund, although ministers were able to see a provisional map showing how the cash would be spread under the categories.

Also spotted this - Jan 2022

The Good Law Project has withdrawn its judicial review challenge over the multi-billion pound “Levelling Up Fund”.

The Good Law Project was seeking to challenge the lawfulness of the allocation decisions and the methodology that the defendants stated they had used to determine those allocations.

However, the Good Law Project said it had “somewhat reluctantly” withdrawn its application. This decision was “based on legal advice about our likelihood of success following disclosure by the Government of its documents”.

www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk/projects-and-regeneration/403-projects-news/49294-good-law-project-ends-judicial-review-challenge-over-levelling-up-fund

I agree! I don't know anyone who'd willingly pay (millions) in tax that they didn't need to. She wasn't breaking any laws and shouldn't have to pay it.

@NoOtherShadeOfBlue

Sunak's choices are morally reprehensible and it's relevant because he's a politician, he's the Chancellor and he hopes to become PM. He has chosen for people to struggle, chosen to force children into poverty and limit their life chances and he has chosen for people in Britain to die of cold or hunger. These are all choices he has made - he hasn't been compelled to make them. He could choose differently to improve and save lives instead. But he would rather entrench the enormous gulf between rich and poor.

His choice to financially benefit by being married to a woman who uses these tax loopholes is morally reprehensible too. Certainly most wealthy people avail themselves of loopholes. Wealthy people run the country and make the laws which create these opportunities and advantages for themselves and then insist that anyone in their position would do the same. But by constantly reinforcing and extending that division between the wealthy and everyone else, they ensure no one else gets the chance. What loopholes are available to the poor? What tax dodges can an ordinary person find to imcrease their own comfort?

Sunak's policies are designed to ensure that people like him - a tiny minority - can get richer and richer while everyone else stays stuck where they are or is dragged back.

People in this country will suffer, children's futures blighted and people will die because of his choices. And he will go on reaping enormous rewards and huge wealth.

Someone has already mentioned J K Rowling as an example of a wealthy person who voluntarily pays more tax than she is compelled to. People like this do exist - not everyone is as much as a compassionless moral vacuum as Sunak.

Very well put and I agree with every word. Some of the Tory apologists on here, will forgive any type of morally reprehensible behaviour, much like Trump’s supporters! Trumpian Tories are something else!

That was my point. You'll have noted I didn't single out the conservatives ...

I know, I was just confirming what you were saying.

She is paying taxes to the country where she is earning it

Prove it. All her PR statements have carefully avoided saying exactly where she pays taxes on her various sources of income.

Murty inherited a large shareholding which pays dividends and would continue to do so even if she never left her bed. She doesn't work for InfoSys and the size of the company is irrelevant to her tax status.

What we do know is that despite wanting a place high in government in a role which determines taxation and revenue management both of them held statuses which required them to state their primary residence is not in this country and Murty has told HMRC every year that her residence in the UK is temporary - which is a part of the deal of claiming non-dom.

Why would the electorate want the country run by super rich with no long term commitment to the country?

@Martini1908

I agree! I don't know anyone who'd willingly pay (millions) in tax that they didn't need to. She wasn't breaking any laws and shouldn't have to pay it.

I do. I know high worth individuals who do not prioritise 'tax planning'. They could go offshore, they could go non dom. but they don't. Just because you're rich you don't have to have to behave like a selfish arse. Of course they'd be richer if they gamed the system better. But they prefer not to. Doesn't make them fools. Just makes them a bit nicer.

C8H10N4O2

Rishi Sunak gave up his green card in October.

@Clavinova

C8H10N4O2

Rishi Sunak gave up his green card in October.

So what does it mean when you have a green card for so long? He's been an MP for 7 years and holds on of the Great States of Office.

Maybe he's going to regret giving it up now?

@Clavinova

C8H10N4O2

Rishi Sunak gave up his green card in October.

Quite. Whilst acting as Chancellor of this country he was telling the US government that the US was his permanent residence and long term home.

But thanks for supporting my point!

Don’t act like a dim wit! Infosys is ww recognised IT business. It has 229K employees.

Do educate yourself before slagging others

Does she actually do any work for Infosys though? I might be wrong but I was under the impression she owns shares as it's her father's company and her actual job is something to do with fashion?