Today’s special was taken from 22nd April 2022 Socialist.net report about Sunak’s dodgy dealings expose sharp class divide. This is how left wing see the situation before Sunak handed in his resignation, and turned the tide against Boris Johnson to forge ahead as a potentially new Prime Minister of England for the conservative party.
Tory Chancellor Rishi Sunak has become embroiled in scandal over revelations that he and his family have utilized shady legal loopholes to dodge UK taxes. The establishment is living on a different planet. Their system must be overthrown.
Despite their best attempts to divert the public’s attention, it seems the Tories cannot wash away the stench of sleaze emanating from Downing Street.
The whiff of partygate still lingers, with police now issuing fines against Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak – amongst others – for attending illegal lockdown gatherings, leading to renewed calls for the Prime Minister to resign.
This latest twist in the saga comes at an unfortunate time for Sunak, who was already in the spotlight as a result of recent revelations surrounding his multi-millionaire wife.
Despite heading up HM Treasury, the Tory Chancellor apparently never felt it necessary to inform anyone that his spouse, Akshata Murthy, has been utilising her ‘non-domiciled’ status to dodge a fortune in taxes over the past 15 years – potentially as much as £20 million.
Murthy’s father is the so-called ‘Bill Gates of India’. As founder of technology giant Infosys, he is worth an estimated $4.5 billion. And thanks to a 1% share in the company, his daughter’s net-worth comes to about £500 million – even more than the Queen.
Last year alone, as an Infosys shareholder, Akshata Murthy received £11.6 million in dividends. Yet thanks to her non-dom status, not a penny of this was paid into HMRC. Meanwhile, Murthy and Sunak spent the whole of the pandemic ‘domiciled’ at Number 11 at taxpayers’ expense.
The disgraced couple have subsequently attempted to backtrack in order to quell the burning anger generated by this latest Tory scandal.
Murthy has magnanimously offered to pay UK taxes on all her international ‘earnings’. Sunak, meanwhile, has invited the government’s ‘independent’ adviser on ministerial standards to investigate whether he failed to properly declare his interests when joining the Cabinet.
But no matter what any officials in Whitehall might decide, workers can clearly see that – as far as the establishment is concerned – there is one rule for them, and another for the rest of us.
During the coronavirus crisis, ‘dishy Rishi’ obtained a thin veneer of popularity as he opened up the state’s taps, pouring money into the economy in an effort to stave off an implosion. But now that he is presenting the bill to the working class, with nothing to offer in his recent Budget announcement but further attacks and austerity, the sheen is rapidly wearing off.
Wading into the debate, Keir Starmer asserted that wealthy Tory politicians like Sunak “just don’t get it” when it comes to empathising with the dire situation facing ordinary working people – a fairly ironic statement coming from this champion of the establishment, himself a knight of the realm.
Sunak and his super-rich chums certainly are living on another planet, however. Working-class households face a cost-of-living catastrophe, as energy bills soar and rampant inflation outstrips wages, plunging millions into poverty.
The well-heeled Chancellor, a former investment banker, meanwhile, seemingly has enough spare change to donate more than £100k to the suffering, hardup pupils at his alma mater, the elite boarding school Winchester College.
“This may be legal,” stated one senior Tory MP in the Financial Times, commenting on Sunak and Murthy’s tax arrangements, “but this is essentially all about rich people saving money, and that’s what it looks like to my constituents.”
“How many people have £30k spare to spend on trying to save money on taxes?” the anonymous source continued. “They are living in a totally different world.”
Whilst Sunak and his family benefit from dubious loopholes, and Tory cronies lap up juicy government contracts, the out-of-touch Chancellor does not even bat an eyelid when it comes to burdening workers with higher taxes, or pushing through real-terms cuts to benefits and public services.
Yet again, we see that this is a government of the rich, by the rich, for the rich.
Take care!
Prof. Carl Boniface
Vocabulary builder:
Stench (n) = stink, reek, pong, disgusting odor, unpleasant smell
Sleaze (n) = corruption, dishonesty, malpractice, scandal, skullduggery
Loopholes (n) = dodges, gaps, ambiguities, excuses, escapes, outs
Non-dom status (idiom) = "non-dom" is short for "non-domiciled individual". It's a term used for a UK resident whose permanent home, or domicile, is outside the UK. "Non-dom" is a description of tax status, and has nothing to do with one's chosen nationality, citizenship or resident status (although it can be affected by these factors).
Hardup (adj) = short of money