UK PM Sunak pays personal taxes totaling more than half a million pounds

Downing Street disclosed Friday that British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak paid more than half a million pounds in personal tax during the fiscal year 2022–2023, as part of its transparency data release.

The 43-year-old leader of Indian descent had made it clear that he intended to make his tax returns public. According to his tax assessment document, he paid GBP 508,308 in taxes, which is approximately GBP 75,000 more than he did in the 2021–2022 fiscal year.

According to the tax records, Sunak earned GBP 293,407 in dividends and other interest in addition to approximately GBP 1.8 million in capital gains, which is an increase from GBP 1.6 million in 2021–2022.

All of the investment income and capital gains came from a US-based investment fund listed as a blind trust, according to the summary. He also earned GBP 139,477 during the year from his roles as a member of Parliament and Prime Minister including allowances for the use of 10 Downing Street.

Prepared by accountancy service Evelyn Partners, the tax summary follows the publication of his previous returns filed with His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in March last year.

It followed pressure after it emerged his Indian wife Akshata Murty, had non-dom status meaning she did not have to pay UK tax on her international income from her father’s software firm Infosys.

She has since relinquished the legal status to avoid it becoming a distraction for her husband’s political career.

(with inputs from PTI)