Page 3 | Rishi and his wife

Merrymouse · 09/04/2022 07:39

@sashagabadon

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

Logically yes, but I think Johnson also resents Sunak’s previous popularity and is very bad at planning (see wallpaper, employment of Cummings, various lost cars when motoring journalist, Peppa Pig speech etc. etc.).

Weirdwonders · 09/04/2022 07:40

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

I think you can only hold a green card if you are a permanent resident of the US. He continued to hold it while he was UK Chancellor.

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

It may be technically within the rules but it limits the amount of tax the UK will receive from them. At the same time he is telling us that taxes need to be raised. People are struggling to pay their bills. NI tax raise cannot be avoided.

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

No, but he is not ‘anyone’, he has oversight of the UK’s fiscal policy

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

He makes and amends the rules.

sashagabadon · 09/04/2022 07:48

I do think this is the end of Rishi’s PM ambitions. I don’t think you can be PM and hold a green card implying your future forever home is in the US plus have a wife that has chosen non dom tax status implying that she doesn’t see U.K. as her permanent home either. I don’t think those things are compatible in high level politics ( rightly) and media would just keep bringing them up time and time again every time a new tax law or spending decision was announced.

SpinningTheSeedsOfLove · 09/04/2022 07:50

Certain journalists obviously have a lot of dirt on RS and AM, which is being fed to us day by day.

So, we have moved through non-dom tax avoidance to US green cards and now to the issue of tax haven use.

Wonder what they’ve got for the Sunday papers tomorrow?

Anyway he’s finished.

Weirdwonders · 09/04/2022 07:55

Also he’s part of a party that’s constantly ramming flag waving patriotism down our throats. It doesn’t smack of having the wider country’s best interests at heart if you hold a green card and your wife declares herself to be a non-dom for the purposes of her tax affairs. It’s up to individuals how much this bothers them. I certainly don’t want to hear the phrase ‘out of touch elites’ used by anyone from that party ever again.

sashagabadon · 09/04/2022 07:56

I can get behind the argument that rishi sort of became chancellor by accident ( when sajid was unexpectedly sacked) and then straight into a pandemic and a war and so his green card status not high on his to do list. We’ve all got boring admin stuff we never get round to sorting.
But main argument against that is unlike other people he must have advisers and people paid to think about the optics of this stuff and they must have thought it was ok. Rishi was the most popular politician for most of 2020 and 2021 and so I assume they thought his popularity would be his shield from bad publicity not realising the British public are extremely fickle and unreliable and what goes up will always come down!

24theshow · 09/04/2022 08:00

@chimichangaz

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.

This!

Timeforausernamechange22 · 09/04/2022 08:01

For me it’s about integrity.
I’m tired of career politicians who only seem to go into parliament because they want the power and the fame, and not because they actually want to make the UK a better place to live. How can you truely be invested into this country whilst also declaring that you intent to live elsewhere.
Imagine how many nurses, teachers, police officers you could put for with with tax that has been avoided? Can you really honestly say they care more about the public and improving this country then they do themselves? Government ministers are public service careers. They serve the public, that is what they sign up to, that is their job - to serve us and to do what is best for us. How is avoiding the tax helping us? Truely?
Yes it is legal and within the rules, but it lacks integrity and I for one could not sleep at night knowing I’m pushing thousands of people into poverty by raising their taxes whilst enjoying the perks of my wife’s non-dom status. Because even if it is her money, they are married and he will hugely benefit from it too. Isn’t that what mumsnet always says - when you are married it is not his money or her money, it is shared money

Buildingthefuture · 09/04/2022 08:02

They are working within the rules. For everyone getting so cross about this, can you honestly say that if, for example, your parents wanted to give you £100k early, to avoid paying inheritance tax, that you would insist that they didn’t, that you waited until they died and the whole lot was taxed? I do not think that you would and that exact situation is mentioned here on mn all the time without people being up in arms about it! And for what it worth, I will never inherit anything so I’m not thinking of my own situation, simply what others post about on here.

CMZ2018 · 09/04/2022 08:05

100% Op

tigger1001 · 09/04/2022 08:06

@Mytoddlerisamazing

She claims that she doesn't live here but she clearly does.

Also she misleading claimed that it was due to having Indian citizenship which was bollocks.

Idk about the green card thing.

She isn't claiming she doesn't live here. That's residence. She is claiming she isn't domiciled here - two very different things. And two different set of rules. If her domicile isn't uk but she lives here she can apply to be taxed on her foreign income on the remittance basis. It doesn't appear she has broken these rules. If she said she wasn't resident, she wouldn't pay tax on her uk income either as a non resident non domiciled person, but she clearly does live here and all the reports have said she pays tax on her uk income.

janj2301 · 09/04/2022 08:07

I love the fact that MN maintain that women are free to do their own thing they don't have to follow husband and here you are saying because of her husband's position she should change her financial arrangements. Hundreds of celebs don't pay UK tax but they aren't hounded in the media. She has not broken any laws. Most of the bitching (not just on MN) seems to be jealousy. If I had millions I'd do what I could to avoid NOT EVADE any taxes

YetiTeri · 09/04/2022 08:09

@Buildingthefuture

They are working within the rules. For everyone getting so cross about this, can you honestly say that if, for example, your parents wanted to give you £100k early, to avoid paying inheritance tax, that you would insist that they didn’t, that you waited until they died and the whole lot was taxed? I do not think that you would and that exact situation is mentioned here on mn all the time without people being up in arms about it! And for what it worth, I will never inherit anything so I’m not thinking of my own situation, simply what others post about on here.

There are laws to prevent that from happening. There has to be 7 years between the gift and the person dying.

Because it's tax avoidance which is hugely detrimental to society.

SpinningTheSeedsOfLove · 09/04/2022 08:09

I’m not ‘cross’, @Buildingthefuture. I’m angry.

Angry at the casual contempt being displayed.

Buildingthefuture · 09/04/2022 08:11

@YetiTeri yes, I know that. But, the fact is, people mention on here all the time about being gifted money early from parents and never once have I seen a response that says “that money should be taxed”!!

Grantanow · 09/04/2022 08:11

It's legal but morally outrageous. Now she has decided to pay UK tax on income to save Sunak's job and chances but she will still benefit from non-dom status in respect of inheritance tax (which isn't 'income') and thereby save about £200 million in due course as well as not paying capital gains tax. There is a rumour that he benefits from trust income from some Carribbean tax haven. Taxes are for the little people!

YetiTeri · 09/04/2022 08:13

@janj2301

I love the fact that MN maintain that women are free to do their own thing they don't have to follow husband and here you are saying because of her husband's position she should change her financial arrangements. Hundreds of celebs don't pay UK tax but they aren't hounded in the media. She has not broken any laws. Most of the bitching (not just on MN) seems to be jealousy. If I had millions I'd do what I could to avoid NOT EVADE any taxes

Ahh here come the bots.

What people in here are saying is that women are also influential. Her financial position may influence his thinking. There was absolutely nothing to stop RS saying that his wife was non-dom and that she pays her taxes in ???? And allow voters to make their decision about him on those facts. That would be called integrity.

But he concealed her status and is still concealing where she does actually pay tax.

tttigress · 09/04/2022 08:14

I do feel his wife has been targeted. Obviously she is paying tax, but not in the UK, but that is because she is an Indian passport holder.

Whether she should renounce her Indian passport is a separate question (you can't have dual citizenship if you are an Indian passport holder)

Mumoftwoinprimary · 09/04/2022 08:14

@Buildingthefuture

They are working within the rules. For everyone getting so cross about this, can you honestly say that if, for example, your parents wanted to give you £100k early, to avoid paying inheritance tax, that you would insist that they didn’t, that you waited until they died and the whole lot was taxed? I do not think that you would and that exact situation is mentioned here on mn all the time without people being up in arms about it! And for what it worth, I will never inherit anything so I’m not thinking of my own situation, simply what others post about on here.

This isn’t about £100k.

This is about a woman with hundreds of millions. More money than you could ever need. More money than anyone could ever spend.

He makes the rules. He is making choices about who pays more tax.

He has chosen for British people to struggle, for British people to go hungry, for British pensioners to die because they can’t afford to put their heating on rather than close a loophole that means that his family would have slightly less money in a way that they would never notice.

SickAndTiredAgain · 09/04/2022 08:16

@tttigress

I do feel his wife has been targeted. Obviously she is paying tax, but not in the UK, but that is because she is an Indian passport holder.

Whether she should renounce her Indian passport is a separate question (you can't have dual citizenship if you are an Indian passport holder)

As PPs have explained upthread, it isn’t related to citizenship. She hasn’t been granted non dom status automatically because of her citizenship because that isn’t how it works. And she wouldn’t have to give up her Indian citizenship in order to no longer have non dom status.

YetiTeri · 09/04/2022 08:18

@tttigress

I do feel his wife has been targeted. Obviously she is paying tax, but not in the UK, but that is because she is an Indian passport holder.

Whether she should renounce her Indian passport is a separate question (you can't have dual citizenship if you are an Indian passport holder)

There are thousands, if not millions of Indian citizens living in the UK paying UK tax. Non-dom is a choice not available to the average Indian citizen. Or indeed any other nationality.

This has nothing to do with her holding an Indian passport. And plus note that nowhere has it been confirmed that she is paying full taxes in India.

Libertybear80 · 09/04/2022 08:19

The issue with the green card is that you are stating that you intend to become a permanent citizen of the USA in future. He clearly didn't have that intention!

bluecitygirl · 09/04/2022 08:21

@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.

No one has said she has become a British citizen you don't have to be a British citizen and it has nothing to do with race etc.

The green card is something I don't understand, but it is being reported that her wealth is in trusts in tax havens so will how that pans out as more information come out.

I am not sure you can serve as Chancellor when there is a massive conflict of interest with how your families wealth is looked after. I would say this regardless of who it was and whatever party they came from. It is just doesn't sit right.

Weirdwonders · 09/04/2022 08:22

@Buildingthefuture

They are working within the rules. For everyone getting so cross about this, can you honestly say that if, for example, your parents wanted to give you £100k early, to avoid paying inheritance tax, that you would insist that they didn’t, that you waited until they died and the whole lot was taxed? I do not think that you would and that exact situation is mentioned here on mn all the time without people being up in arms about it! And for what it worth, I will never inherit anything so I’m not thinking of my own situation, simply what others post about on here.

But those people aren’t the Chancellor of the Exchequer overseeing the biggest tax rises in years, their families are unlikely to be richer than the Queen with more money they can probably ever spend, and that untaxed sum might make the difference between them being able to buy a house or not. And worrying about paying inheritance tax is not even a problem a lot of people are lucky enough to have.

Grumpyoldpersonwithcats · 09/04/2022 08:23

Those defending Sunak and his wife do not understand the concept of 'conflict of interest'.

If (for example) I engage a new third parry at work I have to declare that neither I, nor any member of my family have any financial interest in that third party, and have not (and will not) receive any 'incentives' (bribes) from that third party.

I'd expect this level of behaviour for ALL MPs and especially government minister Clearly I'm deluding myself.