Eight in 10 Britons believe that senior politicians should be required to publish the amount of tax they pay every year, according to a new poll.
A YouGov survey of nearly 5,000 people found that 80 per cent believe politicians should be required to disclose the amount of tax they pay each year, while only 8 per cent said they should not.
It comes after Angela Rayner resigned last week as deputy prime minister and housing minister over her failure to pay £40,000 in stamp duty.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has also evaded questions about his tax payments, particularly regarding his wife’s Clacton property, his private company assets, and his earnings from GB News.
When approached for comment by The Independent, Mr Farage said he publishes all of his “monthly earnings and company figures” and that there was “no need” to disclose how much tax he pays as well.
When pressed on recent reports that he is using a private company to pay less tax on his earnings as a presenter on GB News, Mr Farage did not comment.
Green Party leader Zack Polanski, who has called for Mr Farage to resign as Reform leader over his tax affairs, said: “Trust in politics is at an all-time low. And when millionaires like Nigel Farage are exposed as having played the tax system to pay less, it is understandable why cynicism sets in.
“You can’t call yourself a patriot and then dodge paying your fair share of tax. That is why I’ve called for Farage to resign, like I would for any other politician who purposefully manipulates a system to pay less tax.”
The findings of the YouGov poll show that respondents from across the political spectrum are vastly in favour of transparency within the government.
Similarly, people from all regions and social grades echoed the sentiment that politicians should publish how much tax they pay.
The survey also showed that people in older age groups were the most likely to be in favour of politicians publishing their tax accounts.
The highest support for this was among those aged over 64, at 84 per cent, while 69 per cent of 18- to 24-year-olds were in favour of it.
However, tax reform campaign groups have also chimed in on the debate.
Dia Chakravarty, former political director of low-tax campaign group the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said nobody should be forced to publish their tax returns, including MPs.
She added: “It is highly unlikely that the publication of their tax returns would do anything to expose any wrongdoing; it would only serve to satisfy a curiosity about parliamentarians’ personal financial affairs.
“Our energy would be far better spent pressurising politicians to urgently simplify the ridiculously complex tax code they have written over the decades, the opacity of which in itself seriously undermines people’s faith in the system. We would be best served by the introduction of a radically simpler tax system, where it’s clear how much any of us owe and the potential for game-playing by those who can afford clever lawyers and accountants is minimised.”
However, Tax Justice UK, another tax reform campaign group, said it would welcome the move.
Fariya Mohiuddin, deputy director of external affairs, said: “Revelations about MPs’ tax affairs highlight how dysfunctional our tax system is. People paying their fair share and still struggling will rightly be outraged by seeing MPs appear to be dodging tax.
“It’s no wonder millions are losing trust in politics and the government when there appears to be one set of rules for the super-rich and powerful, and another set for everyone else.
“To rebuild trust, we need to shut down loopholes and tax breaks that allow the super-wealthy and powerful to pay less tax. As a step in the right direction, MPs should be transparent about the taxes they pay and make their self-assessments publicly available.”
