Jeremy Hunt refuses to say if he’s ever paid tax penalty
Jeremy Hunt has confirmed that he has never paid an HMRC fine.
The chancellor’s answer came upon the third time of asking, having declined to answer twice when the question was put to him after his London Bloomberg speech.
Asked by BBC News to clarify whether he had ever paid a HMRC penalty, Mr Hunt said: “I don’t normally comment about my own tax records. But, I am chancellor, so, for the record: I haven’t paid a HMRC fine.”
Amidst the investigation into Nadhim Zahawi’s tax debacle, Mr Hunt also claimed taxation must be lowered to attract investment and pledged to put “restraint on spending”.
He argued that high taxes “directly affect” the incentives which determine decisions by entrepreneurs, investors or larger companies about whether to pursue business in Britain.
Elsewhere, he said that reducing inflation was the only sustainable way to “restore industrial harmony” in Britain, remarking that “the best tax cut right now is a cut in inflation.”
Though the prime minister’s press secretary initially insisted Rishi Sunak’s tax affairs were “confidential”, No 10 confirmed that he too has never paid a tax penalty to HMRC.
