TAX THE RISH

Fury at Rich List Chancellor

CHANCELLOR Rishi Sunak is under growing pressure to make the super-wealthy pay their share of taxes after the Rich List revealed Britain now has 177 billionaires.

It also showed that while millions were plunging into poverty amid the cost of living crisis the wealth of the richest 250 people was rising by more than £50billion to £710.7bn.

The Chancellor and his wife Akshata Murty were ranked 222nd on the Rich List mainly due to her £690m stake in Infosys.

Last month it was revealed Ms Murty used her non-dom status to save an estimated £20million in taxes.

Mr Sunak has been blasted for failing to help those hardest hit by the cost of living crisis, resisting calls for an emergency budget and refusing to impose a windfall tax on energy firms. Robert Palmer, of Tax Justice UK, said: “The latest Sunday Times rich list will make eye-watering reading for people struggling with rising bills.

“It is way past time for the Chancellor to act. We need to close the tax loopholes, end non-dom status and reform the way we tax wealth.

“We also need a windfall tax on the runaway profits of the energy companies.”

The Chancellor, who this week warned the next few months “will be tough” for many families, is only the second MP ever to feature in The Sunday Times Rich List. The first was Tory landowner Richard Benyon, worth more than £100million.

Julia Davies, of Patriotic Millionaires UK, said: “The fact that our Chancellor now joins the ranks of the richest people in the UK – while he and the government refuse to consider taxing wealth over work – is a shocking insight into our political system.”

Luke Hildyard, of the High Pay

Centre, said: “It’s not efficient, sensible or necessary to run the economy in a way that enables people who are already incredibly wealthy to accumulate more while much of the population is crushed by a cost of living crisis. “With stagnating wages and miserable economic growth, it’s clear sharing existing wealth more evenly is the most important political challenge of our time.” Sri and Gopi Hinduja, who run the Mumbaibased conglomerate Hinduja Group, jumped to the top of the Rich List after their wealth grew by more than £11billion to £28.47billion last year.

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich’s wealth halved to £6billion. graham.hiscott@mirror.co.uk @Grahamhiscott