What with the Prime Minister, Chancellor and others publicly sharing their tax affairs in the aftermath of the leaking of the Panama Papers, OnTheWight thought it only right to find out from Isle of Wight MP, Andrew Turner, where he lay on the line of being open with the public about his tax affairs.
We asked
We sent the following to him 21 hours ago:
Andrew – With David Cameron and George Osborne openly declaring their earnings and tax payments for the time they’ve been in office, are you planning to do the same?
He replied
We’ve just had the following reply, reproduced in full:
There is currently debate about whether public figures should publish their tax returns, indeed the Leader of the Opposition thinks that ‘all people in public life’ should do so.
That would presumably include councillors, those running public services, newspaper and television editors, journalists and others.
The UK’s tax system is based on full disclosure to the tax authorities but taxpayer confidentiality.
I think there should be a careful and thoughtful debate before we move away from that principle.
All MPs are already covered by strict rules on declaration of financial and other interests and the Prime Minister said yesterday he did not think that his decision to publish private tax information should apply to all MPs.
However, the Prime Minister (supported by the official opposition) believes that those who lead the country and are responsible for the nation’s finances or who aspire to do so should publish more information.
That does not apply to me!
What do you think?
