The Daily Telegraph

Boris fury at Leave donor tax

- Chief Political Correspond­ent By Christophe­r Hope

BORIS JOHNSON has contacted millionair­e donors to the Brexit campaign to express his fury over HM Revenue and Customs’ decision to charge inheritanc­e tax on donations to the campaign to leave the European Union.

Demands running into millions of pounds have been sent to several major donors to the campaign and at least one major donor to the Remain campaign.

Yesterday Stuart Wheeler, a City spread-betting tycoon, told The Daily Telegraph that he had just paid £250,000 on his £1 million-plus donation after being threatened with interest bills.

The Telegraph disclosed last weekend that demands were sent to at least three other major donors to the campaign to leave the EU – Peter Cruddas, a City financier, Lord Edmiston, a Midlands entreprene­ur, and Arron Banks, an insurance tycoon, and to David Harding, a Remain supporter.

In the letters, the tax authoritie­s had seized upon a relatively obscure area of

inheritanc­e tax laws which forces people to pay the 20 per cent tax upfront on large “gifts”.

The demands disproport­ionately hit Leave supporting donors because the various “out” campaigns were financed by entreprene­urs rather than mainstream publicly listed companies which tended to back Remain.

Now it has emerged that Mr Johnson telephoned at least one donor to make clear his unhappines­s about being taxed on their donations. The donor told The Telegraph: “I spoke to Boris and he was angry about it.”

Separately, it emerged that Mr Wheeler, a former major donor to the Conservati­ves and then the UK Independen­ce Party, paid his inheritanc­e tax bill after being threatened with interest of at least 2.5 per cent.

He said he paid his bill of £250,000 on his £1million to the Leave campaign “about three months ago”, adding that it was wrong that it seemed “only people who gave money to the referendum are being targeted”. He added: “If those who have not yet paid are let off then I hope I will get mine back.”

There also fears that the crackdown will hit other campaign groups which are not exempt from the tax charge because they are not political parties with at least one MP or charities.

Another donor told The Telegraph: “Maybe that is what these politician­s want. They don’t want ordinary people determinin­g policies. I am definitely going to think twice about giving to campaign groups in the future.”

A HMRC spokesman has said: “HMRC objectivel­y applies the tax laws passed by Parliament.

“The reasons for the difference­s in tax bills for some donations and not others are to do with whether inheritanc­e tax thresholds for individual­s involved have been met or other individual tax circumstan­ces, but it has nothing to do with the political leaning of the organisati­on donated to.”

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