Jeremy Hunt refuses to say if he’s ever paid tax penalty
Jeremy Hunt has confirmed that he has never paid an HMRC tax penalty.
The chancellor’s answer came upon the third time of asking, having declined to answer twice when the question was put to him after his London Bloomberg speech.
Asked by BBC News to clarify whether he had ever paid a HMRC penalty, Mr Hunt said: “I don’t normally comment about my own tax records. But, I am chancellor, so, for the record: I haven’t paid a HMRC fine.”
Amidst the investigation into Nadhim Zahawi’s tax debacle, Mr Hunt also claimed taxation must be lowered to attract investment and pledged to put “restraint on spending”.
He argued that high taxes “directly affect” the incentives which determine decisions by entrepreneurs, investors or larger companies about whether to pursue business in Britain.
Elsewhere, he said that reducing inflation was the only sustainable way to “restore industrial harmony” in Britain, remarking that “the best tax cut right now is a cut in inflation.”
Though the prime minister’s press secretary initially insisted Rishi Sunak’s tax affairs were “confidential”, No 10 confirmed that he too has never paid a tax penalty to HMRC.
Jeremy Hunt finally reveals whether he’s paid a tax penalty – after being asked three times
Jeremy Hunt has finally revealed he has not paid a tax fine to HMRC after refusing three times.
However Mr Hunt later said he was willing to disclose that he has never paid a HMRC fine in a BBC interview.
His answer came upon the third time of asking, having declined to answer twice when the question was put to him during a question-and-answer session in the aftermath of his London Bloomberg speech.
Asked by BBC News to clarify whether he had ever paid a HMRC penalty, Mr Hunt said: “I don’t normally comment about my own tax records.
“But, I am chancellor, so, for the record: I haven’t paid a HMRC fine.”
Thomas Kingsley reports:
UK Treasury chief: Tax cuts must wait for inflation to fall
Britain’s Treasury chief said Friday that taming inflation is more important than cutting taxes, resisting calls from some in the governing Conservative Party for immediate tax breaks for businesses and voters.
At a speech in London, Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt said “the best tax cut right now is a cut in inflation.”
The U.K.’s annual inflation rate hit a four-decade high of 11.1% in October, fueling a cost-of-living crisis and a wave of strikes by workers seeking pay raises to keep pace with rising food and energy prices. It has since eased but still reached a painful 10.5% in December and is the highest since the 1980s.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has promised to halve the inflation rate from those levels by the end of the year.
Hunt said he wanted Britain to be a low-tax economy but “with volatile markets and high inflation, sound money must come first” — a sign he won’t cut taxes when he makes his annual budget statement in March.
Read more:
Letters to the editor: “Sunak is either naive or just not telling the truth”
Despite being asked repeatedly if he knew about Nadhim Zahawi’s issues with HMRC before he appointed him, all Rishi Sunak could say was that Zahawi’s tax affairs were not raised when he appointed him chairman in October. Which is not a denial that he knew.
This week, “Sunak is either naive or just not telling the truth”, writes one reader.
Read more:
Rishi Sunak’s ‘narrow path’ to winning the next election
Amidst yet another scandal in the Nadhim Zahawi tax debacle, cabinet ministers must be tempted to contemplate the end of Conservative rule, writes John Rentoul.
Read more:
Nadhim Zahawi: 5 questions that need answering on tax affairs
Some Tory MPs want Mr Zahawi to quit, though others have urged him to “get out” more tax details in an attempt to clear the matter up. The Independent takes a closer look at the big unanswered questions.
Read more:
West Yorkshire mayor hits out at ‘corrupt’ Tories over Zahawi tax scandal
The Mayor of West Yorkshire has hit out at the “corrupt” Conservative party over the Nadhim Zahawi tax scandal.
Appearing on BBC Question Time, Tracy Brabin said that “the swamp” must be drained.
“He’s being investigated by the department that he was leading as chancellor, and what you’ve got is a party that is corrupt and we’ve just got to drain the swamp”, Tracy Brabin said on BBC Question Time.
“We have got to get back to some sort of level where the public are treated with respect because the people who represent them live like them, not disconnected in the way that we’re seeing”, she added.
Jeremy Hunt’s big speech on the economy: what he said – and what he really meant
What Jeremy Hunt said: Digital technology has transformed nearly every aspect of our economic lives. How do I know that? Because I asked ChatGPT to craft the opening lines of this speech.
What he really meant: I am a robot hologram, a Max Headroom powered by algorithms scraping any old rubbish off the internet.
What he said: Who needs politicians when you’ve got AI?
What he meant: No, it is a serious question.
Our chief political commentator imagines the private thoughts of the chancellor as he spoke to a business audience at Bloomberg HQ in London.
John Rentoul reports:
Scandals pile up for top civil servant Simon Case
Simon Case, cabinet secretary and head of the civil service since 2020, is a man in the news. Unusually for a top civil servant, he is at the centre of two scandals simultaneously: Nadhim Zahawi’s tax affairs, and the story of Boris Johnson’s £800,000 private and undeclared “credit facility”.
The spotlight is on Britain’s youngest-ever Whitehall chief, says Sean O’Grady.
Read more:
Hunt U-turns on not revealing tax, now saying he hasn’t paid a fine
Jeremy Hunt said he was willing to disclose that he has never paid a HMRC fine.
The Chancellor’s answer came upon the third time of asking, having declined to answer twice when the question was put to him during a question-and-answer session in the aftermath of his London Bloomberg speech.
Asked by BBC News to clarify whether he had ever paid a HMRC penalty, Mr Hunt said: “I don’t normally comment about my own tax records.
“But, I am Chancellor, so, for the record: I haven’t paid a HMRC fine.”
It comes as Conservative Party chairman Nadhim Zahawi faces an ethics probe after it emerged he finalised a tax settlement with HMRC, which included a penalty, while serving as chancellor.
‘Do the right thing’: Zahawi letter urging Johnson to resign resurfaces as Tory chair clings on
“Prime minister: this is not sustainable and it will only get worse: for you, for the Conservative Party and most importantly of all the country. You must do the right thing and go now,” Mr Zahawi told the former PM – just two days after agreeing to become his chancellor.
Matt Mathers reports:
