British Prime Minister David Cameron took the unusual step on Sunday of publishing his tax records to try to end days of questions about his personal wealth raised by the mention of his late father’s offshore fund in the Panama Papers.
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Cameron defended his finances after a leak revealed that he had inherited an offshore fund set up by his father.
Cameron released a summary of his tax returns over the weekend, but opposition politicians demand more answers and clarifications.
The documents, put together by English accountancy firm RNS and published by Cameron’s Downing Street office, show that Cameron paid £75,898 ($107,230) on taxable income of £200,307 (more than $280,000) in the most recent tax year. Of particular interest are payments his mother, Mary Cameron, made to her son in 2011.
“If the Prime Minister doesn’t make a statement to Parliament tomorrow the SNP is going to apply for an urgent question so he is brought before Parliament to update MPs of what he has done, what his Cabinet have done and what his government intends to do in the future”. Cameron is the leading proponent staying in the European Union, and anything that tarnishes his brand could undermine that campaign.
Cameron said his 6-year-old administration “has done more than any other to take action against corruption in all its forms, but we will go further”. No one has accused Cameron of illegal activities, but the Panama Papers have called attention to the two-tiered Britain he rules even as he pushes his “one nation” austerity and privatization program.
Cameron said he would publish details of his tax return “later on” as he attempted to assuage calls for further transparency about his financial dealings.
But Mr Cameron said he did not want all MPs to publish their tax returns.
No 10 originally said the PM’s financial affairs were a “private matter” and it was only several days and several Downing Street statements later that Mr Cameron revealed he had profited from selling shares in Blairmore Holdings. And British newspapers found fresh angles to criticize his financial disclosures, including his failure to include 500,000 pounds in cash received from his family estate in three tax-free payments following his father’s death in September 2010. A comment he made in 2012 about a famous comedian’s legal tax avoidance scheme being “morally wrong” has been widely quoted by media.
His father Ian, a millionaire stockbroker, organised the Bahamian investment fund with help from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, which was the subject of a massive document leak last week.
British Prime Minister, David Cameron, has released details of his income tax affairs for the past seven years in an attempt to defuse criticism of his investment in an offshore trust run by his late father.
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The force will be led by Britain’s tax authority and the National Crime Agency, and will investigate the leaked files from Mossack Fonseca to identify clients suspected of money laundering and tax evasion.
