Rishi and his wife

[eerk]

AIBU to ask

1. What is wrong with him having a green card if this is not breaking any rules?

2. What is wrong with his wife only paying UK tax on UK income if this is within the rules?

I assume what they are doing is no different to what anyone else is likely to do in their situation.

Isn't it the rules the need to change rather than their actions?

@FatOaf

She pays taxes in her home country on her businesses there why should the British get a cut of that?

No she doesn't! Her dividends are routed through Mauritius. There is no tax payable on dividends in Mauritius. She doesn't pay tax on this income anywhere.

I'm quite amused by all the outrage in the Daily Mail, though: a "newspaper" that's owned by the non-dom Viscount Rothermere.

I'd imagine it would be a different story if RS was JRM. Only the white English tax avoiders are given the Daily Mail free ride.

I am not British but I live here & pay taxes here - I see this as fair as I benefit from the infrastructure my taxes go to paying for.

I would like to think that our elected representatives hold themselves to the same standards. The Sunak's benefiting from lower tax rates because they don't have to pay due to loopholes that Rishi Sunak oversees in his role as Chancellor doesn't quite fit with.

We don’t know if she is paying tax in India, or some offshore tax haven, given the reluctance to clear this up the latter seems pretty likely.

Also unlikely that somebody would go to the trouble of paying the long term Non Dom fees without also having a team of accountants and lawyers advising on tax planning.

... with that

Why does this situation seem so difficult for some people to understand?

He is chancellor of the exchequer, he is in an extremely powerful position. He makes rules on taxes that we are all supposed to follow and yet he and his wife do not, because of the way they have set their finances/tax position up.

As pp have said, 'technically' they are within the rules. But how does it look?

I am fecking sick of this government taking the piss. It's one thing after another. And the galling thing is, this whole situation breaking has probably been engineered by the PM to distract from partygate.

What a mess this country is in. Makes me sad and angry in equal measure.

And they will still be voted in because 'I don't like Kier Starmer'. 'The money has to come from somewhere'. 'They are doing their best'. 'What's wrong with RS having a green card and his wife having non-dom status?' (That autocorrected to non-dim which is equally accurate...)

Fuck the lot of them.

It's becusse they are not white. He has actually tried to keep himself away from the constant borris scandals. Finally, something he has done wrong. Has Boris Johnson given up his American citizenship? I haven't kept up with that.

This whole attack on the Sunaks comes directly from No 10 wanting to see off the top rival.
And all the anti Tories are gleefully doing Johnson's bidding.

Or is just shows that the whole cabinet is rotten to the core. I'm sure Johnson is behind this, and he's certainly put the boot in but is it having the desired effect? Is it showing him in a positive light or someone that has absolutely no understanding of who his team actually are.

And all the anti Tories are gleefully doing Johnson's bidding.

This kind of Tory infighting just gives the impression that they are all corrupt. People criticising Sunak aren’t likely to support ‘that nice Boris’ instead.

@Mindymomo

She will have to live in India for a certain number of nights, it used to be 90. There are probably more non doms than you expect in the uk.it isn’t necessarily a fault in our uk tax system, but in the country’s where these people live like Monaco for example, where people live to pay less tax, but primarily work in the uk.

You are mixing up domicile and residency, the number of nights thing applies to residency. She can be non Dom and stay in uk 365 nights in a year

Quite aside from the issue of the tax, don't you want an Chancellor who's committed to UK, not just here temporarily? Surely that must be one of the first qualifications?

@debbrianna

It's becusse they are not white. He has actually tried to keep himself away from the constant borris scandals. Finally, something he has done wrong. Has Boris Johnson given up his American citizenship? I haven't kept up with that.

Yes, because of tax.

I think it's terrible how the press are going after this woman . However that being said , for me this highlights how far removed those in power are from the people they govern.
I mean how the hell does a billionaire know what it's like to be me ( or most other people!)

@debbrianna

It's becusse they are not white. He has actually tried to keep himself away from the constant borris scandals. Finally, something he has done wrong. Has Boris Johnson given up his American citizenship? I haven't kept up with that.

Yes, nearly a decade ago.

It’s the optics of it and it means I would question his judgement generally if he thought his wife being a non dom was ok. There was a massive fuss about this with zac goldsmith running as an mp about 5 or 6 years ago so he would know the general reaction.

There will be a large chunk of Tories voters who like Sunak more because he is taking advantage of a tax provision that only benefits the very rich.

@Whingasaurus

The Rushi's have done nothing wrong here it's misogyny and racism and jealousy. -No wife has to take her husbands nationality. -She pays taxes in her home country on her businesses there why should the British get a cut of that? -Do we insist the French, Italian Swiss, etc take British Nationality? My Spanish friend has lived here for 30 years and hasn't.

What I find most annoying about this situation is the Tories that keep defending it by saying she has no choice as she’s an Indian national.

That isn’t true, it’s not an automatic thing and ending it wouldn’t mean giving up her citizenship. Fine for the Tories to defend it if they have no issue with it (after all, it is legal), but don’t use a lie to defend it.

Anyone from Labour in danger of being in a similar situation?

They have done nothing wrong. The fuss is simply based in the politics of envy - and that is odious.

It’s a labour attack imo. Tories generally approve of this type of tax shenanigans. It’s generally the way the super rich operate.

@eerk

Anyone from Labour in danger of being in a similar situation?

I don't think any of this started with Labour. This is his own party with the knives out for him.

There are 2 strong Twitter threads that will answer your questions and let you see actually how bad this is.

Read this one first about Akshata Murthy: twitter.com/richardjmurphy/status/1511964400978214912?s=21&t=RRGMiX6pfFhYZ3b1XV9z8A

And then this one about Rishi Sunak: twitter.com/richardjmurphy/status/1512330297949446147?s=21&t=RRGMiX6pfFhYZ3b1XV9z8A

@Hbh17

They have done nothing wrong. The fuss is simply based in the politics of envy - and that is odious.

RS lied when he said he was a resident of the US, whilst he was living in no10 Downing Street.

How have we got to the point where lying isn't seen as wrong?

@Whingasaurus

The Rushi's have done nothing wrong here it's misogyny and racism and jealousy. -No wife has to take her husbands nationality. -She pays taxes in her home country on her businesses there why should the British get a cut of that? -Do we insist the French, Italian Swiss, etc take British Nationality? My Spanish friend has lived here for 30 years and hasn't.

This is all nonsense.

No one's complaining about her nationality, she can keep her Indian citizenship and pay tax where she's living. That's what most settled people do regardless of their nationality, the two are not connected.

-Does she pay taxes in her home country? They've refused to confirm that, leading to a strong suspicion that the "International Tax" is far more likely in some tax haven.

• None of this is anything to do with nationality. Tax status is completely separate. And yes a Frenchman living permanently in UK would be expected to pay UK tax.The issue is whether she's here permanently and if she's not, presumably he's not which doesn't really make him a suitable Chancellor. Where does your Spanish friend pay tax?

@eerk

Anyone from Labour in danger of being in a similar situation?

Not that I know off. However, I think they find him a threat. I was wondering why the stories where coming out. 1 - I thought he was making a move to kick BJ out/take over. 2- due to his political move for pm , we needed to know who his wife is. 3- however, the above didn't make sense..more information about her family business staying in Russia seems the catalyst. Journalist knew she was not paying taxes uk but had no issue. Are you telling me when chancellor went on his holiday or hot into parliament, all the dirt was dug up