THE FORMER Chancellor of the Exchequer has admitted he also held the same controversial tax status as Rishi Sunak's wife.
Sajid Javid said he had been a non-domicile (non-dom) for six years while working as a banker.
The admission comes as questions continue to mount for Chancellor Sunak over his wife Akshata Murty's arrangements, after it emerged she was a non-dom who did not pay taxes on her substantial earnings in India, where she is from.
Despite not legally doing anything wrong, Labour's Yvette Cooper said this morning the question was an ethical one.
The Sunaks have said they have reviewed the arrangement and Ms Murty will now be paying taxes in the UK on her overseas earnings.
However Mr Sunak has also come under further scrutiny after it emerged he was a beneficiary of trusts set up by his wife in the tax havens of the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands.
The Chancellor is now reported to have ordered an investigation into how his family's tax affairs have been made public - an offence in the UK.
Speaking to The Times, Mr Javid, who is now the UK Health Secretary, said he had been a ‘non-dom’ between 2000 and 2006, when he was working for Deutsche Bank.
Mr Javid said he had qualified for the scheme because his father was born in Pakistan.
He also said some of his financial investments had been based in an offshore trust.
Mr Javid said: "I have been domiciled in the UK for tax purposes throughout my entire public life. Given heightened public interest in these issues, I want to be open about my past tax statuses.
“My career before politics was in international finance. For almost two decades I constantly travelled around the world for work.”
He said that after working in New York, he returned to the UK, and “for some of those years, I was non-domiciled for tax purposes, but I paid all UK taxes due on my income and have always done so."
The Liberal Democrats are calling for a change in the law to require government ministers to declare their tax arrangements, while the SNP has called on Mr Sunak to publish his tax returns for the past two years since he has been Chancellor.
Christine Jardine, the LibDems treasury spokeswoman has drafted the Ministerial Tax Residency Status Bill and will present it to the House of Commons once Parliament has returned from Easter break.
If accepted, the bill would force government minsiters to delcare whether they, or any member of their household, has non-domiciled status, what overseas jurisdictions they pay tax in and if they are listed as the beneficiaries of trusts held abroad.
Ms Jardine said: "Rishi Sunak’s continued refusal to answer basic questions about his family’s tax arrangements simply won’t wash. It shows he is completely out of touch with people struggling to pay their bills.
“The public deserve to know what other steps the Chancellor’s household may have taken to reduce their own tax bill while he hammers families around the country with unfair tax hikes.
“We have a draft law ready and waiting for when Parliament returns, to force Sunak and other ministers to reveal if their households are not paying their fair share by using tax havens."
Meanwhile the SNP's deputy Westminster leader Kirsten Oswald has urged the Chancellor to publish his tax returns, after it also emerged he had held a Green Card - making him an official US resident.
Ms Oswald said: "Rishi Sunak's response to revelations that he held a US green card for a significant period of time when he was an MP and Chancellor raises more questions than answers.
"It is now vital for transparency and trust that the Chancellor publishes his tax returns over the period he held a US Green Card since he has been an MP to set out whether or not he avoided paying more tax in the UK."
She added: "Crucially, we need to know whether Mr Sunak failed to pay UK tax while serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer
“His spokesperson has said tax was paid ‘where required’ for the duration he held his Green Card. Does that mean he paid US but no UK tax for a period while living in Downing Street and setting tax for all other UK citizens?
“If so, it is an astonishing admission and makes his position as Chancellor increasingly untenable."
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