Big question: Should all MPs publish their tax returns?

Last week, the "Panama Papers" leak from offshore law firm Mossack Fonseca opened up politicians' taxes to intense scrutiny. It transpired that David Cameron had profited from his father's offshore trust Blairmore Holdings, which did not pay British tax for 30 years. David Cameron, George Osborne and Jeremy Corbyn have since all published their tax returns. They are eager to show that they have nothing to hide.

A fierce debate has erupted over whether all MPs should be obliged to do the same. This week, member of Parliament for Bath Ben Howlett said that making MPs publish their tax returns would discourage “people from all walks of life” from entering parliament. Charles Walker, MP for Broxbourne, said that a "nothing to fear, nothing to hide" attitude would lead to the banning of curtains. Yet his fellow Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg has claimed that privacy is the price politicians must pay after losing the trust of the public.

Is it right that we should expect our MPs to offer transparency of this kind, while those in other professions enjoy privacy? A panel of contributors, including Caroline Flint and Director of the TaxPayers' Alliance Dia Chakravarty, offer their views.

Energy could be much better spent

Dia Chakravarty, Director of the TaxPayers' Alliance

Nobody should be forced to publish their tax returns and MPs should be no different. We already have a system whereby MPs have to declare external sources of income, significant shareholdings and the like in the Register of Interests, which is available for public scrutiny. It is highly unlikely that the publication of their tax returns would do anything to expose any wrongdoing; it would only serve to satisfy a curiosity about parliamentarians’ personal financial affairs.

Our energy would be far better spent pressurising politicians to urgently simplify the ridiculously complex tax code they have written over the decades, the opacity of which in itself seriously undermines people's faith in the system. We would be best served by the introduction of a radically simpler tax system where it’s clear how much any of us owe and the potential for game-playing by those who can afford clever lawyers and accountants minimised.

A distraction from bigger issues

Caroline Flint, Labour MP for Don Valley

This week I published my tax return, or rather the headlines from it. For the record, in 2014/15 my taxable income was £58,724 on which I paid £12,965.80 in tax. I want more openness in a simplified tax system, so I couldn’t really object to providing details of my income tax. It’s not very exciting; no offshore investments, family trusts or income from exotic sources.

It’s a shame the issue of MPs’ tax returns happened as it did, to divert from David Cameron’s offshore family problems. So I hope we don’t take our eye off the bigger issue of multinational enterprises transferring revenues to low or no tax countries to minimise their tax liabilities. My Bill on multinational financial transparency has cross party support and I hope the Government decides to support it.

A watershed moment

Asa Bennett, Assistant Comment Editor at the Daily Telegraph

David Cameron’s tax return has proved a watershed moment as all MPs feel under pressure to release their own, but they shouldn’t feel obliged to give into the pressure. MPs may be public servants, but even they are entitled to some privacy.

They already disclose quite a lot on the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, so there is little be gained in forcing them to disclose exactly how much they pay in tax except to satisfy nosy members of the public. Releasing a tax return also invites endless questions from critics about finances, and snarky criticism over how it was filled out, as Jeremy Corbyn found when he had to admit to doing it late.

A threat to our social stability

Natalie Bennett, leader of the Green party

I think it would be good practice for all MPs to publish their tax returns. That would give their constituents the chance to understand their personal interests and judge their actions. And it is important we don’t put undue weight on this. It is a tiny issue compared to others raised by the Panama Papers which throw new light on the massive systemic problem.

Ensuring a public register of the beneficial ownership of companies and demanding country-by-country reporting of company profits in tax havens is critical. Many major tax havens are under British control one way or another. This is a British problem, a governance problem, a threat to our economies, our democracies and our social stability. British governments have historically encouraged these entities to operate as tax havens, so we have a responsibility to act. The City of London is at the centre of this network. Its influence must be reduced.

Look to Norway

Abi Wilkinson, freelance journalist

In Norway, all tax returns are public and in many ways I think the privacy around money here in the UK is a bad thing. At the moment people don’t have much trust that politicians are paying their fair share and I can understand the desire to see the numbers—particularly for cabinet and shadow cabinet members.

On the other hand, I’m worried that MPs publishing tax returns distracts from the real issues: legal loopholes which enable aggressive tax avoidance and a lack of transparency in offshore tax havens which allows for evasion and money laundering. If all MPs released their tax returns it may well just confuse the public.

The other thing to remember is that there’s no way to verify information released to the public is actually true. As tax lawyer Jolyon Maugham has noted, someone could “invent a tax return, publish it as [their] own, and if a tax inspector so much as coughed in public she’d commit a criminal offence."

This week's "Big Question" was put together by Alex Dean and Harriet Agerholm