Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murth
(Picture: PA)Chancellor Rishi Sunak has once again found his wife’s tax arrangements, and her reported £400m fortune, making negative headlines at a time when the 41-year-old can scarcely afford it. Sunak is overseeing one of the worst cost-of-living crises in living memory, with people seeing their budgets slashed as they’re hit with rising prices from all sorts of directions.
The chancellor is supposed to be on top of this, but has faced criticism himself for what has been perceived to be a lack of support to people simply to heat their homes at the moment, given the surge in energy prices that are being experienced.
However, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng maintained that Mr Sunak has always been "transparent" about the status his wife holds, and that the non-domicile status that Akshata Murthy holds is "absolutely right".
Mr Kwarteng told Times Radio: "I think it’s clear she has non-domiciled status. We’ve had non-domicile status for more than 200 years.
"And that means that on UK income, you pay taxes here in the UK, and on foreign income, you pay taxes abroad. That’s something that’s been well established.
Ms Murthy’s spokeswoman said: “Akshata Murthy is a citizen of India, the country of her birth and parents’ home.
“India does not allow its citizens to hold the citizenship of another country simultaneously.”
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