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?

@Clavinova

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!

How do you know what Sunak's intentions were when he first obtained his green card? We are told he relinquished his green card in October 2021.

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

Although bear in mind that the author of those tweets was an informal adviser to Jeremy Corbyn in his 2015 leadership campaign. Richard Murphy also had to issue a public apology to Lord Ashcroft in 2009;

pressgazette.co.uk/tory-chief-lord-ashcroft-settles-website-libel-claim/

And Murphy hasn't checked his facts here;
£37 billion on track and trace was very obviously wasted

It's Test and Trace, not track and trace and the final spend for 2021-2022 hasn't been announced yet (£13.5 billion spent 2020-2021 which was £8.7 billion less than expected.) As for free lateral flow tests being a waste of money (for example) - I thought Labour criticised the government for scrapping the free tests?

@Clavinova I am not as expert about Green Cards as you are so can you help me. What would be the purpose of having a Green Card if one did not intend to live in the US?

On what basis did Sunak qualify for a Green Card?

OP "Isn't it the rules need to change rather than their actions?" What an original idea OP, did you reach that odd conclusion by yourself or did you have help? No, it's rarely a good idea to change the rules on behalf of a rule-breaker, you really wouldn't like it if that 'reasoning' was applied to everyone, you'd be very unhappy indeed. And the green card? Outrageous. If you don't understand why then you can't be helped.

On what basis did Sunak qualify for a Green Card?

I'm not sure - several newspapers report that he worked in the US. Otherwise, he did win a Fulbright scholarship to Stanford and he has property there.

Imagine having that much money, wow.

Missed point of thread

@noblegiraffe

On what basis did Sunak qualify for a Green Card?

Well he lived and worked there for years and had US based business/es, but you’d think that from, at least, the time he became a UK MP on 2015 he’d have decided that he was committed to being a UK resident and not a US one (as the green card entitlement dictates) wouldn’t you? He’s proud of being a UK citizen you see - we know this because he said so when trying to justify why his wife wouldn’t give up her Indian citizenship (total red herring of an argument though that was). And yet it took him six years, until 2021 apparently, to give up the Green Card. And his wife couldn’t not be a non-dom because she so wanted to remain an Indian citizen and return there one day whilst also, simultaneously, loving the USA so much that she kept her Green Card too which meant she wanted to be a permanent resident there too - see? Simple. I’m sure none of these totally unconnected things have conveyed any advantage on the Sunaks whatsoever of course…… The questions are going to get harder. Good.

What would be the purpose of having a Green Card if one did not intend to live in the US?

What would be the purpose of EU settled status if one does not intend to live in the UK?

Politics is a precarious profession, MPs lose their seats, ministers are reshuffled and governments lose elections - it's not so attractive sitting on the opposition benches.

It's about integrity and his position in the country. We've just had the NI raise and the huge fuel increases pushing many into poverty, whilst he's patronising us pretending to fill up a car that's not even his and acting like he's one of the people.

@TenRedThings

Because the person in charge of the nations budget has been exposed as having a vested interest in keeping loopholes open so the wealthy can avoid paying their fair share of tax. All this whilst living in prime London real estate which we are paying for.

Spot on 👍👍

@Clavinova

What would be the purpose of having a Green Card if one did not intend to live in the US?

What would be the purpose of EU settled status if one does not intend to live in the UK?

Politics is a precarious profession, MPs lose their seats, ministers are reshuffled and governments lose elections - it's not so attractive sitting on the opposition benches.

Ah, so let me get this right. Rishi is actually really interested only in being in power, and not the hard graft that comes with being an MP.

Well I am surprised.

Rishi is actually really interested only in being in power, and not the hard graft that comes with being an MP.

Considering he was head boy at Winchester, obtained a first class degree from Oxford and a Fulbright scholarship to Stanford I rather suspect he is a hardworking type of person - but 10 years as an opposition MP maybe not.

I guess it’s easier to not worry about things like Brexit if you have a Green Card.

Bit like the government fucking up state education because private is an option for their kids.

No skin in the game.

@mathanxiety

As for the green card, the issue is that when you get I’ve you declare an intention to become a us citizen.

No, this is not so.
...........
What's happened is that Sunak was lukewarm about Boris when Partygate made the news, clearly with domicile in Number Ten in mind. Then luckily for Boris, Ukraine came up, and he's now riding high. Meanwhile, Sunak has dragged the Tory brand down with the austerity and the faking of being an Ordinary Bloke and The Missus. So his time is up. Just as he has done with all his other rivals, and opponents of Brexit, Boris took out the folder on Rishi, blew the dust off it, and is now in the process of fatally wounding him.

It's also a warning to Liz Truss, who is popular, not to get any ideas.

This.

Does anyone seriously think Keir Starmer is Machiavellian enough to coordinate something like this?

And since when has the DM swallowed Labour propaganda?

Of course this is coming from number 10. It’s hardly the first time.

They are Tories and behaving as expected. Green card could be a big problem. Number 10 fingerprints are all over this but Bozo needs to remember Mr Cummings hasn't finished with him yet.

@longwayoff

OP "Isn't it the rules need to change rather than their actions?" What an original idea OP, did you reach that odd conclusion by yourself or did you have help? No, it's rarely a good idea to change the rules on behalf of a rule-breaker, you really wouldn't like it if that 'reasoning' was applied to everyone, you'd be very unhappy indeed. And the green card? Outrageous. If you don't understand why then you can't be helped.

Did you mean to be so rude in articulation of your response?

Do you speak to people like that in real life?

Thought not.

Frank. Frequently.

She lives here in the UK a
She earns millions a year
She doesnt pay tax here
Her husband is in charge of the countries finances inc taxes
They do everything they can to avoid paying tax in the UK including having non dom status and donating multiple thousands to posh private schools to avoid paying tax

It’s not whether things are just about ‘within the law’ it’s about perception too and the idea you have the chancellor and his wife buying into a system that then enables her to funnel 11m a year in dividends via Mauritius which has no tax on dividends is not exactly ‘we are all in this together’- same goes for holding green cards which are seen as something to hold if you will be making the US your home— doesn’t exactly smack of long term dedication to the UK— yet he is making and enabling policies that the UK is stuck with long term— Brexit being one— it’s a fact that a lot of Asians voted leave because they were told that it would enable more Asians to get visas to come here — wasn’t widely said on mainstream media— but certainly Asian areas had leaflets through the door about this. People like Sunak and his wife didn’t really care about the the UK long term , tgey are here to make cash and a name for themselves. they see their future long term as in USA and they are rich enough whilst in the UK not to gives monkeys about personal financial issues. The only reason people like him is he handed out cash at a crucial time in an emergency— ANY chancellor would have had to do similar or the country would have gone bust— !!!

And for anyone that doesn’t grasp why the green cards are an issue

the US Department of Homeland Security website states: “A green card holder is a permanent resident that has been granted authorization to live and work in the United States on a permanent basis.”

So is he in the UK on a bit of overseas work placement then ?? Because being an MP seems quite an indicator that you are domiciled in the UK and no longer resident in the US.

@countrygirl99

And the problem is Rishi's policies have already favoured the wealthy living off investments rather than earned income and it's apparent he has every personal incentive to carry on and not close loop holes. So you can carry on expecting the same.

@countrygirl99, I don’t doubt you at all, but can you tell me which policies you are referring to? Many thanks.

How is she non dom when she lives in the UK. Pair of chancers if you ask me.

@Viviennemary

How is she non dom when she lives in the UK. Pair of chancers if you ask me.

The whole point about being non-dom is that you do live in the UK, but because you're only here temporarily your overseas income can be taxed there instead of here. So for example MN weird crush Mark Carney is Canadian, moved here to run the Bank of England for seven years while claiming non-dom status and then moved back to Ottawa. Fair enough I'd say, as long as he was actually paying tax in Canada on his Canadian assets.

@longwayoff

Frank. Frequently.

What an original idea OP, did you reach that odd conclusion by yourself or did you have help?

You call it frank. If you spoke to me like that in real life, I'd call it down right rude and nasty.

So she is only here on a temporary basis. Was that going to be long enough to let her husband become PM. They've been rumbled. I wonder who by.

How is she non dom when she lives in the UK.

The same as the other 70,000 non-doms living in the UK (2018 figures). Apparently, the top three nationalities for non-doms were American, Indian and French.