Monday, December 14, 2009

Cameron’s tax plan is a sham – Huhne

 Commenting on David Cameron’s plans to bar people who do not pay full UK tax from Parliament and the Government, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne said: 

“David Cameron’s plan is a sham. The super rich like Lord Ashcroft, Zac Goldsmith or Labour’s Lord Paul can be fully resident for tax purposes in the UK, but if they are able to opt for non-dom status they will not pay a penny in UK tax on their main fortune outside Britain.

“David Cameron has still failed to answer the key question: is Lord Ashcroft a non-dom, yes or no? If he is a non-dom, Cameron’s tax plan will not catch him.

“The only reason David Cameron is putting forward this plan now is because of the revelation that his high-profile candidate, Zac Goldsmith, has avoided an estimated £5.8 million in British taxes over the last ten years.

“It is the height of hypocrisy for the Tories to suggest a new law when they opposed Liberal Democrat Lord Oakeshott’s bill to stop non-doms sitting as peers.

“Someone who wants to pass laws about tax in this country ought to pay this country’s full taxes, and not hide behind the special offshore status of non-doms.

“Zac Goldsmith, even on the most conservative estimates, has avoided vast amounts of British tax by deploying the non-dom tax dodge. If he challenges our estimate of how much tax he has dodged, then I put to him a simple challenge: publish your tax returns for the last ten years, and I will publish mine.”

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