Clegg: “no objection in principle” to publishing his tax return

By Stephen Tall | Sun 8th April 2012 - 11:45 am

Today’s Independent on Sunday reports:

Nick Clegg has “no objection in principle” to publishing his tax return, aides said yesterday, after senior politicians scrambled to respond to calls for greater US-style openness from public figures.

After the four main candidates for London’s mayoral elections revealed their personal tax affairs, the Chancellor, George Osborne, yesterday said he was “very happy” for his own details to be published. The disclosures from Boris Johnson, Ken Livingstone, Brian Paddick and Jenny Jones were seen as a turning point, with some warning that they were succumbing to the “Americanisation” of British politics.

An aide to the Deputy Prime Minister said yesterday there were “no plans” to publish his details but pointed out that his salary was a matter of public record and he had no other sources of income and that he had “no objection in principle” if it was a “collective decision”.

Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, said he would have “no problem” in making his tax return public. An aide to Danny Alexander, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said the minister had “no intention to publish but his only sources of income are in the public domain”.

To join in the Lib Dem Voice debate, Should election candidates have to declare their tax records?, click here.

* Stephen was Editor (and Co-Editor) of Liberal Democrat Voice from 2007 to 2015, and writes at The Collected Stephen Tall.

3 Comments

Rebecca Hanson 9th Apr '12 - 8:45am

Here’s John Redwood’s response – well argued as ever:
http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2012/04/07/should-candidates-in-elections-publish-their-tax-returns/
Daniel Henry 9th Apr '12 - 10:34am

I disagree with Redwood.
If we’d been shown the candidates tax returns as a matter of course then the issue would’ve been nipped in the bud earlier on and there’d have been less furore from the speculation about it.
David Evans 10th Apr '12 - 10:19am

Sadly, as is the case with many people at the top, the interesting bits are those that are omitted from their Tax Returns, not the bits that in them.