Osborne declares £45,000 dividend

THE Chancellor made almost £45,000 in one year on dividends from holdings in his father’s highclass wallpaper firm, according to his tax return released yesterday.

And he made more than £33,000 in rental income from his six-bedroom London townhouse while he lives in his grace and favour apartment in Downing Street.

As Chancellor, his salary in 2014/15 was nearly £135,000. In that year, Mr Osborne had income of almost £200,000, of which £72,210 was paid in tax.

Mr Osborne told Sky News: ‘I’m the first Chancellor ever to publish details of my tax return. I will continue to do so.’

He said the move showed an ‘unprecedented degree of transparency’ from the Government, adding that Labour wanted to target people ‘who leave any money to their children’, a move he said was ‘anti-aspiration’.

Mr Osborne’s rental income comes from the five- storey Notting Hill house he bought with his wife Frances in 2006 for £1.85million. Assuming the rental income is split with his wife, the total is £ 67,124, suggesting a monthly rent of almost £5,600.

In addition, the Chancellor has a sizeable stake – reported to be some 15 per cent – in Osborne and

‘Unprecedented transparency’

Little Group Ltd, established by his father Sir Peter Osborne and his father’s brother-in-law Antony Little in 1968.

Private Eye reported last year that, despite having made a pretax profit of £722,000, the firm paid no corporation tax for 2015.

The detail of Mr Osborne’s tax return showed a total taxable income of £ 198,738, including £44,647 in the form of dividends.

His taxable pay and earnings – his salary minus the personal allowance – as MP and Chancellor was listed as £120,526. In addition, he earned bank interest of £3.

A Treasury spokesman said the dividends were derived from shares the Chancellor owns directly, and also as life tenant of a family trust based and resident in the UK which holds shares in that company ‘as its sole asset’. The Chancellor paid income tax on these dividends, added the spokesman.

A Treasury source said this is the first year for several years Osborne and Little has paid a dividend, meaning it is the first year the Chancellor has benefitted significantly from the reduction in the top rate of tax from 50p to 45p.

The release comes days after the Prime Minister released his own tax details.

But while Mr Cameron’s details went back to 2010, Mr Osborne’s were only for one year.