British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak leaves Downing Street to attend Prime Minister’s Questions at the House of Commons in London, Britain, January 31, 2024. Photographer Hannah McKay/ File photo
By Reuters
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak paid 508,000 pounds ($641,000) in tax in the last financial year after income from his investments dwarfed his official salary, a report by his accountants showed on Friday.
Sunak is the wealthiest prime minister in British history through a combination of his past career in financial services and the family fortune of his wife, whose father founded the Indian IT services company Infosys.
The three-page published summary is the second time that Sunak has published details of his tax affairs since he became prime minister in 2022.
The figures show that Sunak made 139,000 pounds from his salary as a member of parliament, finance minister and prime minister between April 2022 and March 2023, and 2.1 million pounds from investments.
Of his income from investments, 1.8 million pounds came from capital gains, up from 1.6 million pounds a year earlier.
About 70% of the total tax paid by Sunak was due to capital gains tax on the profit made from sales of investments such as stocks.
Although Sunak does not have an obligation to provide details of his income, he agreed to do so to provide more transparency about his personal finances.
Notes from Evelyn Partners, Sunak’s accountants, said all the prime minister’s investment income and capital gains related to a “single, US-based investment fund”.
Sunak was criticised this week after he made a 1,000 pound bet with the broadcaster Piers Morgan over whether the government would succeed with its plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda before the next general election.
Opposition parties said the wager was distasteful and that Sunak’s ability to make such a large bet on a whim showed he was out of touch with average voters.