‘All in this together’?

Questions remain over the tax affairs of the Prime Minister and Chancellor despite the publication of their tax returns, Labour MPs said yesterday (April 11) during explosive scenes in Parliament.

The Prime Minister’s statements on tackling offshore tax schemes were branded as “a master class in the art of distraction” by Jeremy Corbyn, as it was revealed that his plans to reign in tax havens under British sovereignty were repackaged and watered down.

In response, Unite urged the public to join the People’s Assembly Against Austerity march in London this weekend to let the government know that urgent action to impose a fair tax system is needed.

Distraction not disclosure

Following on the heels of Cameron, George Osborne was forced to release his 2014/15 tax return in response to public pressure for MPs to come clean about their incomes after the “Panama Papers” leak. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and shadow chancellor John McDonnell also published theirs.

Osborne’s return revealed that his annual £120,526 salary as Chancellor was supplemented by £33,562 from renting his London house and £44,647 in dividends from shares in his family firm Osborne and Little – a firm that has not paid corporation tax in seven years and has been implicated in offshore schemes.

In total the Chancellor earned ÂŁ198,738 last year, although questions about his tax returns during previous years as Chancellor are unanswered.

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell accused Osborne of making a “distraction not a true disclosure”.

“As we now know that when the Chancellor was cutting the top rate of income tax for people like himself, while at the same time saying he wasn’t wealthy enough to benefit, he was also cutting public services and support for some of the most vulnerable in our society,” he said.

Speaking in Parliament, Cameron defended his family’s tax affairs, saying the offshore investment fund his father Ian helped found was not set up to avoid tax.

Cameron also announced that plans for a central register of company beneficiaries in British offshore territories had been agreed. The Prime Minister fielded similar plans in 2014, in order to reveal the true owners of offshore companies, however yesterday he made clear that these had been watered down to prevent the public from accessing the register.

The announcement came after it was revealed that the Prime Minister had lobbied against EU measures to reign in offshore tax schemes in 2013.

Jeremy Corbyn described Cameron’s statements as “a master class in the art of distraction,” and said the Prime Minister had done too little, too late to force the super rich to disclose their assets.

“There is now one rule for the super-rich and another for the rest,” Corbyn said. “I’m honestly not sure Mr Speaker that the Prime Minister fully appreciates the anger that is out there over this injustice.

“How can it be right that street cleaners, teaching assistants and nurses work and pay their taxes yet some of those at the top think the rules simply don’t apply to them?

“The truth is, is that the UK is at the heart of the global tax avoidance industry. It’s a national scandal and it’s got to end.”

‘Dodgy Dave’ 

Corbyn also demanded that Cameron disclose the full extent of his previous financial involvement with offshore schemes.

“Can he clarify to the house and the public whether, when he sold his stake in Blairmore Holdings in 2010, he also disposed of other offshore investments at that time?” Corbyn asked.  “In particular, whether any of the ÂŁ72,000 of shares he sold that year were held in offshore tax havens.”

Veteran MP Dennis Skinner went further in his attack on the Prime Minister and branded him “dodgy Dave”.

After being ordered by Speaker John Bercow to rescind the comment, Skinner shouted, “This man has done more to divide this nation than anyone else. I still refer to him as dodgy Dave. Do what you like.”

Tempers also frayed on the Tory side of house, over concerns that the unprecedented decision of the Prime Minister, Chancellor and leaders of the opposition to release their tax returns will force all MPs to do the same.

Tory MP Alan Duncan said, “We risk seeing a House of Commons which is stuffed full of low achievers who hate enterprise, hate people who look after their family and know absolutely nothing about the outside world.”

Despite Duncan’s reservations other MPs decided to publish theirs on the same day, including Boris Johnson, who earned almost £2m in four years thanks to his London Mayor salary, newspaper columns and book royalties.

Jeremy Corbyn’s 2014/15 tax return showed he earned £70,795 as an MP and made £1,850 from additional work including lecturing. John McDonnell, who published his tax details in January, earned £61,575 through his MP’s salary.

Cameron, who released his tax details from 2009 to 2015, was shown to have earned ÂŁ200,307 last year, as well as receiving ÂŁ200,000 from his mother in 2011, which allowed him to avoid inheritance tax.

The Prime Minister also inherited £300,000 after his father’s death in 2010 and admitted there was no way of knowing how much of that money came from offshore funds.

‘Sickening’ 

Head of Unite Community Liane Groves urged people to join the People’s Assembly Against Austerity march in London on Saturday (April 16) to demonstrate to politicians that they need to get to grips with tax avoidance.

“The People’s Assembly march offers people a platform to raise their voices in protest against this immoral system that sees tax avoidance by our country’s elite as normal while at the same time cuts to our public services are being sold as ‘we’re all in this together’,” she said.

“If rich individuals and corporations paid their fair share of tax we could properly fund our NHS, improve our schools and other vital public services,” Groves added. “It is sickening that the rules for the powerful are not the same as for the ordinary people.”

The People’s Assembly rally starts at 1pm on Saturday (April 14) at the corner of Gower Street and Euston Road in central London. Find out more about how you can get involved here.