Is Angela Raynor a liar or is it all anti Labour media bias?

[CormorantStrikesBack]

I’m well aware how anti Labour a lot of the main stream media seem to be so I wasn’t paying much attention previously to all the stuff about how she should have paid capital gains tax on her house, etc. she was adamant that she didn’t need to.

So it seems like she said it was her main residence so not liable for capital gains tax. But her husband and kids lived in a house a short distance away apparently for the first five years of their marriage which is unusual. A neighbour who lived next to her “husband’s” house said it was the main family home and Angela definitely lived there.

I’ll be sad if she has lied. Always thought she was on the side of the ordinary person. I guess the police/tax man might have a hard time proving anything though regardless of the neighbour’s statement. If all bills, etc were in the individual names there’s no evidence.

Sunak's wife either wasn't following the tax laws and so had to put that straight (or at least make a token gesture), or she was following them, in which case why would she make the change?

She was exploiting a loophole by claiming she lived in a different country from her husband. Angela Rayner is under criticism for claiming she lived in a different house!

From Gov.uk...

UK residents who have their permanent home (‘domicile’) outside the UK may not have to pay UK tax on foreign income

So was Murty's main residence in India, away from her children and husband?

Fair enough if it was.

Her Wiki page says she lives solely in the UK.

Non dom has a time period read down on that gov site

You pay an annual charge of either:

• £30,000 if you’ve been here for at least 7 of the previous 9 tax years
• £60,000 for at least 12 of the previous 14 tax years

£60k is the charge

But the media story worked. The posts show how easy it is is to get a story going if it resonates

It also shows that the media does not avoid doing similar to whomever. Labour or not

£14k for medical expenses Mr Menzies? Massages have become very expensive these days.

A non-dom is currently resident in the U.K., but their permanent home is elsewhere.

Its not a loophole, it’s deliberate legislation.

It’s a bit odd for the wife of the PM to declare that her permanent home is elsewhere - will he go with her? Plenty of people asked this question and I suspect that is why she gave up the status.

It’s just a time period

Anyone can leave before the 15 years are up.

It’s no more odd for AM than anyone making a life in U.K. for that period.

It’s only odd in the context of her being married to the PM. You have to make a declaration that your permanent home is elsewhere.

I don’t think it’s relevant. Married to PM or CEO, celebrity or average Joe

It’s not a differentiator in tax law

So we all accept Murty made this declaration but we don't accept AR complied with the rules.

mmmmmmmm

I haven’t really engaged with the story or commented on AR other than to confirm whether it mattered if they live apart, it seems it doesn’t

But I don’t agree the media go for Labour more, no where near actually as what you’re seeing now is how they generally are with news cycles and it feels new because it doesn’t often get directed to the opposition

AM is a good example of no diversion from tax law but a big story to take someone out, the media love that kind of thing

Maybe more Labour media cycles will happen if they get on

Lived and get in.. too late to edit

The point is the political impact, not tax law.

If she is making a declaration that her permanent home is elsewhere, is his home not with her? Are they not planning to stay together or is his permanent home also outside the U.K.?

That isn’t a legal problem, but it is a political problem if you are a PM trying to sell the message that you care about the long term future of the U.K.

I also think it’s notable that despite being married to the chancellor and having access to tax advice, the initial statement released about her tax affairs miss-stated the law. Tax is complicated and confusing.

I do agree some stories are more "newsworthy" than others but in a printed media that is dominated by Tory supporting papers, i disagree that they don't highlight Labour more, its fairly obvious, given their bias, they would.

Just as the Mirror or Guardian will carry a more pro Labour stance.

Aside, i did "enjoy" seeing Schapps squirm over Menzies and again Miliband on AR, straight answers usually are the best form of defence.

I don’t think there is any suggestion that she lied about this.

Tax law is only what matters we don’t have a sliding scale based on the job of our spouse

It’s just a blanket law that we adhere to or not. AM was adhering to it but the news story and people’s belief she was evading shows how powerful and disruptive the media can be in hitting with stories that resonate

They don’t highlight Labour more as it’s just profit

The AM story was profit and a good story

It worked people up and so it gets coverage

People still post she evaded tax law, it’s not correct but it was a good story even from, especially from the DK which is on the right

Partygate must have made the DM loads. They don’t ignore a good story

Murty married 15 years ago, presumably they met long before 2009, she has lived in the UK during this period.

I think most reasonable people would say her permanent residency was the UK.

We also do not know if she signed any declaration that her main home was abroad, don't know how you'd do that with a straight face.

Partygate was way above politics, simply not comparable

There was no tax evasion you won’t have proof of that as HMRC won’t have said it was the case

There’s no point in pushing that angle. The media got people going.

They’re a wealthy couple, the husband has the right to live in the US and all of her family and wealth is based in India.

I’d actually be surprised if once her husband finishes his temporary job that they do decide to stay in the UK for the rest of their lives.

Even Nick Clegg, who as I understand it is a lot less wealthy and has fewer international ties, has moved to work abroad.

If my job was as precarious and short term as PM/MP, the odds of me moving abroad in future would sky rocket - so it seems reasonable theirs would too.

It’s not a blanket law. There is no requirement to declare a non-dom status. AM made a deliberate choice to pay £30k a year to pay tax on the remittance basis (this is when you only pay tax when relevant funds are remitted to the U.K.)

Perfectly legal, but politically damaging, which is why this information made its way to the newspapers, the suggestion is via Boris Johnson.

I agree that with so much Tory infighting for so long, there has been plenty of blue on blue leaking to the press.

Politically damaging is Ireland to HMRC

There was no evasion. No fine. As there isn’t for many others doing the same

They just don’t make good press

For the DM especially

It was damaging because they focussed on it so much

Completely agree with all of this.

However if you have effectively stated your intention to leave the country when you are running for office, it’s politically damaging.

And unfortunately more damaging for Sunak than other candidates. Politics is not always nice or fair.