Embattled Sunak in fresh row over US immigration
BRITISH chancellor Rishi Sunak was battling to save his political career last night following new revelations about his family’s financial affairs, including an astonishing claim that he broke US immigration rules.
It came as friends of the chancellor said Mr Sunak considered quitting the cabinet last week to spare his family from more scrutiny – and might still do so if the pressure continues.
Mr Sunak’s opponents yesterday called the White House to investigate why the chancellor had a US green card until last October. The card puts the holder on the path to US citizenship if they declare their intention to make the US their permanent home and pay tax there. Mr Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty own a $7m (€6.5m) flat in Santa Monica which they visit regularly.
Last night, the Treasury said that until surrendering the card, Mr Sunak had filed annual tax returns to America, meaning he was being taxed on his £151,000 Cabinet salary in both countries. If he paid the full tax in the UK and US jurisdictions, that would mean he has been prepared to pay £48,000 in tax to Washington in addition to nearly £60,000 in tax to the UK – just to maintain his green card status.
But Labour and the Liberal Democrats highlighted the rules set out by US Citizenship and Immigration Services, which say holders should not be ‘employed by a foreign government’, ‘vote in foreign elections’ or have ‘immediate family members residing outside of the United States’.
It comes after a furore over Ms Murty’s ‘non-dom’ tax status, which enabled her to potentially avoid paying tens of millions of pounds in tax. On Friday, she announced she would start paying UK taxes because her arrangements were not ‘compatible’ with her husband’s job as chancellor.
After Labour accused Mr Sunak of failing to be transparent about his family’s financial arrangements while raising taxes for millions during a deepening cost-of-living crisis, prime minister Boris Johnson admitted he had not been told about Ms Murty’s non-dom status.
Friends of Mr Sunak say he considered resigning over the row last week. But cabinet colleague Jacob Rees-Mogg sprang to his defence, saying: ‘British politics would be the loser if this row put off people of Rishi’s calibre from getting involved in our public life.’
The Mail on Sunday can reveal that the UK Revenue commissioners have been urged to investigate whether Ms Murty broke the terms of her non-dom status by giving her UK company £4.3m in interest-free loans. Experts said the loans to her firm Catamaran Ventures UK fell into a ‘grey area’ of the rules.