Britain’s Finance Minister Rishi Sunak’s prospects to be the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom have been destroyed forever with the Inappropriate choice of tax planning the Sunak family adopted. There is justifiable outrage at his wife Akshata Murthy, having net worth of her own pegged at around 500 Million pounds, for choosing the non-dom status which allows her to pay considerably less tax.
Non-domiciled residents are people who live in the UK but are deemed to have their permanent home or domicile, abroad which may mean they do not have to pay UK tax on foreign income.
For the uninitiated, Rishi Sunak, of Indian origin, is the suave Finance Minister in the Boris Johnson government. His 42-year-old wife Akshata, an Indian citizen is the daughter of Narayan Murthy (Worth valued by Forbes at 3.45 million pounds) of Infosys. They married in 2009 after having met at Stanford. With 0.91% in her father’s IT giant firm, Akshata’s fortunes make her wealthier than even Queen.
The limelight turned to the affair as an indirect fallout of the Ukraine war when Infosys continued operating in Russia and Akshata Murthy would not pay the taxes on her income from abroad citing her non-dom status. The tax avoidance is termed as “breathtaking hypocrisy” by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.
Since the scandal broke out, Akshata has confirmed she will pay UK taxes on all her income saying that “it has become clear that many do not feel it is compatible with my husband’s role as chancellor. I understand and appreciate the British sense of fairness and I do not wish my tax status to be a distraction for my husband or to affect my family.”
Rishi Sunak has demanded the independent adviser investigate whether his family’s financial arrangements have been “properly declared”. It remains to be seen if Rishi Sunak comes out unscathed from this scandal.
