David Drew, MP for Stroud in Gloucestershire has tabled amendments to the Parliamentary Standards Bill which should put the cat amongst the pigeons. The first says:
(1) This section applies without prejudice to any rules made by the IPSA pursuant to section 5.
(2) A person to whom this section applies must file an Annual Financial Disclosure Statement, in a manner to be specified in regulations, providing the following information—
(a) copies of his tax returns for the last three years ending on 5 April prior to the date of submission of the Annual Financial Disclosure Statement; and
(b) details of any assets in the form of property or shares that he owns or controls at the date of submission of the Annual Financial Statement.
(3) This section applies to any member of the House of Commons and House of Lords.
And the second this:
(1) All persons to whom this section applies must publish, in the circumstances prescribed by this section and in the manner to be specified in regulations the following information—
(a) his tax return for the last year ending 5 April prior to his declaration as a candidate; and
(b) details of any assets in the form of property or shares that he owns or controls on the date of his declaration as a candidate.
(2) This section applies to any candidate for election to the House of Commons who spends more than £1000 on his election campaign.
I wholeheartedly support this move.
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Nothing against this in principle, of course, but:
1) Given the propensity for general elections to take place in May or June (every election since 1974, in fact), it might well be a bit tight to publish a tax return up to the 5th April that year!
2) What about candidates from the larger part of the electorate who don’t complete a formal tax return at all?
The legislation allows for regulations on the timing of filing – clearly a may election would require the return to 5/4 the previous year
A candidate would have to file a tax return – anyone can
There’s clearly a motivation behind Mr Drew’s suggestion, and since he’s defending a majority of 350 on behalf of a party balanced on the edge of the abyss, I’m assuming that motivation is party political. But what is it? Is he aiming to expose suspected tax avoidance? Or antediluvian enough to believe that large tranches of electors will not vote for candidates who are comfortably off financially? Or is there something blindingly obvious here that I have completely failed to perceive?
1) It’s simple
2) It stop inconsistency
3) There is already a regulator
4) There are already penalties
5) It enquires we know that all pay tax on their world wide income here
Simple, effective and complete. Sounds good to me
But I should disclose I had a hand in drafting this
And it did not get into the Act
Richard
You should be able to access public records through state entities.They are allowed to charge you fees for copying and research expenses.background checks public records