Tory candidate in Richmond Park avoids paying millions in UK tax

Maybe we shouldn't just believe everything that we read in the papers. I know that you criticise the Surrey Comet for mis-reporting facts and not knowing all of the facts, so for balance, here are Zac's comments:

It was the weekend's edition of the Sunday Times which suggested that Zac Goldsmith, the Conservative candidate for Richmond Park, was non-domiciled for tax purposes. However, the man himself insists that the article was wrong in many of its assertions and yesterday sent the following message to local activists in the Richmond Park constituency in which he is standing, to explain that he has not in fact been a "non-dom" since April:

"The Sunday Times (29th November) ran a misleading article about my tax status which included outlandish remarks by the Liberal Democrat Lord Oakeshott. This gave rise to further Press coverage on the 30th November.

Although I have answered the questions put to me by the media, without hesitation, I wanted to write to you personally to explain the situation. Firstly, for Lord Oakeshott to suggest that I have dodged any tax and to claim that I owe millions to the British taxman is wrong and defamatory. Equally fallacious is his suggestion that I keep money offshore "free of income tax, inheritance tax and capital gains tax".

I have never made any secret of my family's background. My father created an international trust designed to provide his children with income. They, and I do not have access to the capital. However, virtually everything I do is in the UK, and therefore the vast majority of my income comes to the UK, where I pay the full rate of tax on it. I do not derive any benefits as far as either capital gains tax or inheritance is concerned since I am registered for the latter in the UK. My family has use of two homes that are owned by that trust. Despite what has been said, we do not live in them for free. I am subject to Capital Gains tax on the benefits I enjoy from using these properties.

My non-domicile status is a reflection of my father's international status, but despite this, I have always chosen of my own volition to be tax resident in the UK. The Sunday Times article states that I "stand to lose huge sums by changing [my] tax status". That is wrong. For me, the 'non-dom' status offers very few benefits. Before the newspaper had even made contact, I had already instructed my advisors to end it as of April 6th 2009. I am therefore no longer 'non-dom'.

If there are any savings at all, they are massively exceeded by the fact that a very large proportion of my post-tax income goes towards supporting charitable and environmental causes that I believe in.

I do not believe family wealth accords any entitlement whatsoever in democratic politics. But nor do I believe it should be a barrier to my continuing to work for the things we all believe in.

Yours sincerely,

Zac Goldsmith