The Daily Telegraph

Call for major parties to lose tax-free status

- By Christophe­r Hope

BRITAIN’S major political parties should be stripped of their tax-free status because they misjudged the coun- try by backing Remain ahead of the European Union referendum, two Leave donors say today.

Jeremy Hosking, a City fund manager, and Stuart Wheeler, a spread betting millionair­e, blamed HM Revenue and Customs’s attempts to levy inheritanc­e tax bills on “dark forces” and said they were “un-british” and evidence of “a counter referendum-result witch hunt” by the Establishm­ent.

Letters that could lead to tax demands running into millions of pounds have been sent to major Leave donors, as well as a Remain donor. Mr Hosking gave £1.6 million to the Leave campaign and is facing an inheritanc­e tax bill of up to £320,000. Mr Wheeler has just paid £250,000 on his £1millionpl­us donation after being threatened with interest bills. In a letter to today’s

Daily Telegraph the pair say that “Brexit donors are understand­ably aggrieved at HMRC’S inheritanc­e tax grab” and suspected it was part of “a witch hunt by an Establishm­ent”.

They say: “The question is less whether the HMRC grab is lawful, than which public figures have nudged them to act in this un-british, capricious and retrospect­ive way?”

An HMRC spokesman said: “HMRC objectivel­y applies the tax laws passed by Parliament. Tax decisions are always based on the law and never on the personal beliefs or values of the individual or campaign. Inheritanc­e tax rules have been in place for decades.”

♦ David Cameron feared he would be ousted as Tory leader if he did not commit to holding a Brexit referendum, his former communicat­ions chief Sir Craig Oliver has revealed. In an interview for the BBC Radio 4 series The Cameron

Years, Sir Craig said Mr Cameron would have been hit by a wave of Conservati­ve defections to Ukip if he had not promised to give the country the opportunit­y of an in/out vote.

£320,000 The amount Jeremy Hosking faces being charged in inheritanc­e tax on his donation of £1.6 million to the Leave campaign

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