My wife loves India: UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak fights back on tax row
His wife Akshata Murty, daughter of Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy, was targeted by the British Opposition over her non-domicile tax status
UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak has launched a fightback against the Opposition’s attack over the non-domicile tax status of his India-born wife Akshata Murty, daughter of Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy, saying she loves her country and would eventually return there to care for her parents.
Akshata, whose mother Sudha Murthy is a philanthropist , was targeted by the Opposition over her non-domicile tax status, which means she is not legally bound to pay tax in the UK on income earned overseas. “She had this well before we met, before she moved to this country,” Sunak told The Sun newspaper.
“It wouldnt be reasonable or fair to ask her to sever ties with her country because she happens to be married to me. She loves her country. Like I love mine, I would never dream of giving up my British citizenship. And I imagine most people wouldn’t,” he said.
Akshata is accused of using her non-domicile status as a tax saving of millions but a spokesperson for the 42-year-old entrepreneur said she complies with UK tax laws as a resident and the tax categorisation is because India did not recognise dual citizenship.
“People, I don’t think, have an issue with the fact that there’s an Indian woman living in Downing Street. I would hope that most fair-minded people would understand though I appreciate that it is a confusing situation that she is from another country,” Sunak said.
The British Indian Cabinet minister has previously come out in defence of his wife, who owns around 0.9 per cent stake in Infosys, and father-in-law Narayana Murthy, who he described as someone who created a world-class business from scratch.
“These are attempted smears of my father-in-law, who I’m just enormously proud of. That guy came from nothing and has created a world-class business that employs I think about a quarter of a million people around the world and changed the face of India,” said Sunak. “If I achieved a tenth of what my father-in-law achieved in his life, Id be a happy person. I’m really proud of what hes achieved.”
The 41-year-old senior Conservative Party politician, until recently seen as the frontrunner to succeed Boris Johnson as British Prime Minister, admitted that the so-called non-dom categorisation has been misused by some ultra-rich to avoid taxes but that is not the case with his family.
With agency inputs
