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Social Justice > Published by Shamik Das, March 2nd 2010 at 2:33 pm

Sign the petition to demand Cameron’s pal Aschroft pays back the £127 million he avoided

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A petition has been launched demanding Tory deputy chair Lord Ashcroft of Belize pay back the £127 million he avoided paying in tax since his elevation to the Lords in 2000. Today’s Mirror has calculated the sum, and quotes Lib Dem home affair’s spokesman Chris Huhne, who said:

“He’s avoided vast sums in a non-dom tax dodge. Anyone who wants to pass laws about tax in this country should pay the full taxes and not hide behind the special offshore status of non-doms.”

David-Cameron-Lord-AshcroftThe petition says:

“We, the undersigned, call on Lord Ashcroft to pay to the UK exchequer the tax for which he would have been liable had he not decided to be non-domiciled in the UK for tax purposes since 2000, so that it can be spent on the NHS, schools, police and other front line services.

“Commentators estimate that this sum could be as much as £127 million.”

It follows the highly-successful Facebook group, which now has more than 1,250 members.

This is how the Mirror calculated the £127 million figure:

“Lord Ashcroft’s fortune is estimated at £1,100 million by the Sunday Times Rich List.

“A 5% annual return is £55m. If he kept 80% offshore taxpayers would miss income from £44m.
He can split his tax between capital gains and income tax.

“At 18%, capital gains tax on £22m = £3.96m, plus 40% income tax on £22m = £8.8m. That’s £12.76m a year or £127.6m in 10 years.”

Earlier today, Left Foot Forward reported the huge influence Ashcroft has over the Tory party, and the potential effect he may have on the election. Ashcroft’s money pays for 78% of Tory spending in marginals, far higher than the 2% of donations the Tories have claimed.

UPDATE 2:40

John Slinger, who set up the petition, has just told Left Foot Forward:

“The Tories and Lord Ahscroft may think that they can put this story to bed with a belated Damascan conversion to transparency, but it won’t wash. I set up this petition because I hope that the British public will think long and hard about what the Ashcroft affair says about the modern Tories.

“Ordinary people are struggling in the current economic circumstances, paying their taxes and often relying on public services such as the NHS to improve their life chances.

“Yet the Tories have as their Deputy Chairman a billionaire who chooses to pay only a fraction of his taxes in this country yet seeks to influence the outcome of the next election. It may be legal, but it’s a disgrace.”

  • http://twitter.com/8minstosunrise/status/9876568412 Milena Buyum

    RT @leftfootfwd: Demand #CAshcroft pays back the £127 million he avoided: http://cli.gs/BqYPj Sign the petition: http://is.gd/9wOSp

  • http://twitter.com/matt_zarbcousin/status/9876615385 Matthew Zarb-Cousin

    RT @leftfootfwd: Demand #CAshcroft pays back the £127 million he avoided: http://cli.gs/BqYPj Sign the petition: http://is.gd/9wOSp

  • http://charles.crabtree@gmail.com charles

    grow up – this story’s over

  • http://twitter.com/johnslinger/status/9876937658 John Slinger

    RT @leftfootfwd: Sign the petition to demand Cameron's pal Aschroft pays back the £127 million he avoided http://cli.gs/BqYPj

  • vj

    Sure ill sign. If we can have the same for Lord Paul, Lakshmi Mittal and everyone else. If its going to be persecution, then lets at kleast make it even handed.

  • Opusdeath

    I’ll sign if you expand the petition to include all nom Doms, Lord Paul etc :-)

  • http://mreugenides.blogspot.com Mr Eugenides

    Eh? He agreed his tax status with HMRC, didn’t he? Why on earth should he be required to pay more than he is asked to?

  • http://twitter.com/othertpa/status/9878194205 Clifford Singer

    RT @leftfootfwd Demand #CAshcroft pays back the £127 million he avoided: http://cli.gs/BqYPj

  • http://twitter.com/sirrontail/status/9878266354 Liat Norris

    RT @OtherTPA: RT @leftfootfwd Demand #CAshcroft pays back the £127 million he avoided: http://cli.gs/BqYPj

  • http://twitter.com/nextleft/status/9878313929 Sunder Katwala

    leftfootfwd

    RT @leftfootfwd Demand #CAshcroft pays back £127 million he avoided: http://cli.gs/BqYPj Sign petition http://is.gd/9wOSp

  • http://www.michaelhenley.co.uk Michael Henley

    Adding my weight to the comments above. Expand this to include all donating non-doms like Swraj Paul, Lakshmi Mittal & Bruno Sanglé-Ferrière and then we can talk. People in Glass Houses…

  • http://twitter.com/peterkenyon/status/9878575870 Peter Kenyon

    RT @nextleft: leftfootfwd

    RT @leftfootfwd Demand #CAshcroft pays back £127 million he avoided: http://cli.gs/BqYPj Sign petition http://is.gd/9wOSp

  • Henry

    Seems like a bunch of folk with Tory talking points are posting. Surprise!

  • http://twitter.com/joshfg/status/9878659801 Joshua Fenton-Glynn

    RT @OtherTPA: RT @leftfootfwd Demand #CAshcroft pays back the £127 million he avoided: http://cli.gs/BqYPj

  • http://twitter.com/jaredgaites/status/9878829051 Jared Gaites

    RT @leftfootfwd: Demand #CAshcroft pays back the £127 million he avoided: http://cli.gs/BqYPj Sign the petition: http://is.gd/9wOSp

  • http://twitter.com/jaredgaites/status/9879267835 Jared Gaites

    Demand #CAshcroft pays back the £127 million he avoided: http://cli.gs/BqYPj Sign the petition: http://is.gd/9wOSp

  • AdamR

    Quite happy to sign, on the condition that the petition applies to Ashcroft, Lord Paul, Lakshmi Mittal, Ronnie Cohen and ALL non dom donors to ALL parties. But then again I supposed the ‘evidence based blogging’ on here will only be used to attack the Tories. No wonder British politics is in such a mess.

  • Francis Urquhart

    What about Paul, Mittal and Cohen who have collectively contributed more than Lord Ashcroft? Perhaps we can use all of the cash to finance a day’s worth of interest incurred from Brown’s debt binge.

  • http://twitter.com/wdjstraw/status/9880691395 Will Straw

    RT @leftfootfwd: Demand #CAshcroft pays back the £127 million he avoided: http://cli.gs/BqYPj Sign the petition: http://is.gd/9wOSp

  • http://twitter.com/anthonypainter/status/9880748385 Anthony Painter

    RT @wdjstraw: RT @leftfootfwd: Demand #CAshcroft pays back £127 million he avoided: http://cli.gs/BqYPj Sign petition: http://is.gd/9wOSp

  • http://twitter.com/bevaniteellie/status/9880773788 Ellie Gellard

    RT @leftfootfwd Demand #CAshcroft pays back the £127 million he avoided http://cli.gs/BqYPj Sign petition http://is.gd/9wOSp

  • http://twitter.com/thethirdestate/status/9881024181 thethirdestate

    RT @BevaniteEllie: RT @leftfootfwd Demand #CAshcroft pays back the £127 million he avoided http://cli.gs/BqYPj Sign petition http://is.gd/9wOSp

  • http://twitter.com/ladyroisin/status/9881072921 LadyRoisin

    RT @leftfootfwd: Demand #CAshcroft pays back the £127 million he avoided: http://cli.gs/BqYPj Sign the petition: http://is.gd/9wOSp

  • http://twitter.com/shamikdas/status/9881123653 Shamik Das

    RT @wdjstraw @leftfootfwd Demand #CAshcroft pays back the £127 million he avoided: http://cli.gs/BqYPj Sign the petition: http://is.gd/9wOSp

  • http://twitter.com/davehowells/status/9882213153 davehowells

    RT @leftfootfwd: Demand #CAshcroft pays back £127 million he avoided: http://cli.gs/BqYPj Sign petition: http://is.gd/9wOSp

  • http://mreugenides.blogspot.com Mr Eugenides

    What’s interesting about this thread is how few people are actually coming out in support of this nonsense.

    Either you change the law to prevent non-doms from funding political parties and requiring all parties, Labour and Lib Dems included, to repay money paid to them, or you are playing kindergarten politics and should belt up.

  • John77

    You might as well say that if his returns were 100% pa he would have paid £4bn in tax. The Mirror’s figures are cloud-cuckoo-land.
    Firstly investment returns over the last decade have been marginally less than zero (source: FTSE and/or APCIMS) on a balanced portfolio, not just on the FTSE-100 stocks. Secondly the UK has double-taxation agreements with the US and most other major i.e. he does not have to pay tax on the same twice, so he would only be liable for the excess of UK personal tax rates over local tax rates. The main tax liability that he has been avoiding is IHT which at 40% on £1.1bn comes out at £440m. But he hasn’t died yet, so actual loss is relatively small.
    The Independent on Sunday found “party headquarters pump more than £1.1m into the coffers of constituency parties in Britain’s most marginal seats.
    Tory activists raised another £5m locally”
    That means Central Funds, including Ashcroft, paid for 18% not 78%. Whoever wrote this needs a new pair of spectacles if he/she cannot distinguish a 1 from a 7!. Tory claims that as Ashcroft’s donations comprise less than 5% of party income, some of which funds specific HQ costs, and CCHQ contributions is 18% of marginal seats spending his support is less than 2% of the amount they spend in marginal seats are specious but a lot closer to the truth than LFF’s 78%. The Editor should have noticed that 78% didn’t make sense as it exceeded Ashcroft’s total donations to the Tories over that period!

  • http://www.leftfootforward.org/2010/03/millions-stand-behind-me/ Millions stand behind me | Left Foot Forward

    [...] stand behind me On the day that a petition was launched asking Lord Ashcroft to pay back the £127 million in unpaid tax and it emerged that [...]

  • http://twitter.com/martinmcivor/status/9893740206 Martin McIvor

    RT @leftfootfwd: Sign the petition to demand Cameron's pal Aschroft pays back the £127 million he avoided http://cli.gs/BqYPj

  • http://www.leftfootforward.org/2010/03/hague-in-june-i-have-no-reason-to-think-ashcroft-hasnt-complied/ Hague in June: I have no reason to think Ashcroft hasn’t complied | Left Foot Forward

    [...] yesterday that Ashcroft had, in fact, been a ‘non dom’ during this period and avoided £127 million in tax, Left Foot Forward wonders why the shadow foreign secretary told Jeremy Paxman repeatedly in June [...]

  • http://twitter.com/andrewroche/status/9937468192 Andrew Roche

    Sign the petition to demand Cameron’s pal Aschroft pays back the £127 million he avoided http://ff.im/-gSZA3

  • http://twitter.com/miladysa/status/9941991240 Miladysa

    RT @andrewroche Sign the petition to demand Cameron’s pal Aschroft pays back the £127 million he avoided http://ff.im/-gSZA3

  • http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/11/tax-avoider-lord-ashcroft-gbp200m-st-helena-airport-international-aid/ £200m of aid budget to be spent on St Helena airport – after lobbying from Lord Ashcroft | Left Foot Forward

    [...] Because the decision comes after lobbying from Tory donor and £127m tax avoider Lord [...]